Webs & Iron
by MissBreePhoenix
Summary: Spider-Man isn't the only hero in New York and it seems the daughter of a certain hero will change everything for him; however, it won't just be his world that'll be turned upside-down, but hopefully S.H.I.E.L.D., bad guys and a very overprotective father won't get so much in the way. Based off the Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man and the Avengers.
1. New York

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I'm so excited to post this; it is my first attempt at a story having superheroes and comics, so I'm hoping I do ****okay with this. For anyone who knows that I have some stories on hold, sorry that I have not been able to update thanks to school and then causing me to have difficulty getting to the writing mood for them. However, I am feeling inspired to try this and I hope you all like it. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own or copyright anything relating to Marvel, _The Amazing Spider-Man_, _Iron Man_ or anything else. I only own the OC.**

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**New York**

Many people would wonder how the hell my life became the way it is now. Sure, being the adopted daughter of the world's famous billionaire genius—who is also the world's most famous superhero—has always made my life different. And it's certainly not that I am also one of the youngest S.H.I. . agents in the history of the agency—it totally surprised my father that I was an agent since around the time he adopted me. So, no, my life hasn't drastically changed because of something I did; it was more of a certain someone entering my life to turn it upside-down—no pun intended to said someone. My life changed the day my father had us officially relocate to New York. My father, Tony Stark, decided that we should move to New York in order to work at his new building for a year.

Everyone in the company knew that the boss had to do what was best for his company but what was bad is that I am in my last year of high school and I had to transfer. My life has always been in Los Angeles—that city was the only one I knew. Pepper Potts, my father's personal assistant, business associate and girlfriend, had her hands tied in either convincing my father to letting us stay in LA or that she'd stay with me, but it was completely impossible. So, I had no other option: I had to leave LA. The last place where I knew I had a piece of my mother with me. Of course, I knew that the necklace she gave me on my eighth birthday is technically the final thing I got from her but it was the place that always reminded me of her. But if we hadn't moved to New York, I probably never would have met a boy that changed my life and everything else with it. I never would have met Peter Parker.

However, I must start from the beginning. It all started three months ago when we moved to New York from LA—an entire eight months after the incident with a psychotic Asgardian named Loki who wanted to rule the Earth. Thankfully the Avengers—a group of select individuals that consisted of my father, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow—stopped him and saved what was left of Manhattan. I suppose that was another reason why I didn't want to move to New York, the idea of all the craziness that goes on there freaked me out and I was still shaken up after what happened. Even though I wasn't a part of the Avengers, I was still able to help the others as much as I could and nearly lost my father in the process. I thought that a couple years ago when he was kidnapped but managed to come back to us would have been the last time. However, when Pepper and I found out about him creating a robotic suit to be some sort of defender of the innocent was something we didn't believe would be possible. Tony, being the way that he is, thought we overthink things and believed everything will be fine but he also knew that we just worry for him—me mostly since he's pretty much the only person I have as family, even though I am adopted, he is still my father.

Looking now at the huge penthouse apartment that we were living in, I kept thinking that I was in some sort of bad dream and was waiting to wake up. Unfortunately, it wasn't a bad dream—everything was real and right now I was getting ready to leave with Pepper to go register at my new high school. Pepper thought that I would had been better off at some fancy private school but Tony thought otherwise. He believed that I would do fine at Midtown Science, a school that was making me want to gag since I am constantly around science every day. I did wish I could have some sort of input as to where I'd like to attend, but I feel like Tony chose that school because he'd like me to use my knowledge about almost everything tested there.

Sighing, I finished brushing my straight dark-brown hair and then finished off by applying my mascara. I didn't feel like putting much makeup on today, I was just going to register for school and then spend time with Pepper after so it seemed like eyeliner and mascara was my best choice—especially with my ocean blue eyes, dark colors really made them stand out. When I was finished, I went to my closet and pulled out my gray coat—one of the few coats and jackets that I have had barely began placing into my closet. Everything just seemed so rushed: I barely had any sleep from the plane ride over here, barely had time to unpack my things and I barely had time to get my new dog settled in to our new apartment. Of course, Tony didn't want us to get a pet in the first place but he got me a German Shepherd puppy just so I could have something to keep me company until I stopped being shy around people in the new school—at least that's how Tony sees it. I slipped on the coat and looked at myself in the mirror again; I was a petite seventeen-year-old, standing at five-foot-four with an athletic frame but have the necessary curves, porcelain skin and a very youthful face.

Sometimes I'd wish that I wouldn't look so young; many people think I was a couple years younger than I am meant to be. Some of the new employees in my father's new building thought I was fifteen, while others thought I was fourteen. Hopefully there will be one day where someone will see that I am not so young and should be seen the age that I am.

"Alison?" I heard a muffled voice say, followed by a knock on the door.

"Yeah?" I asked, going over to the door, opened it and saw Pepper on the other side.

"Are you ready? We need to get going to the school and Happy already has the car ready for us," she said, holding the folder with my information in one hand and her iPhone in the other.

"Yes, I'm ready," I nodded, showing her that I was fully dressed and had my shoes on.

"Great! And I must say that your outfit looks really cute today," she smiled warmly.

"Thanks, Pepper," I smiled back, glancing down at my simple outfit of skinny jeans, black and white converse, gray and black long sleeved V-neck shirt, and gray coat.

She herself looked pretty professional with her attire: dress pants with a light gray blouse neatly ironed, flats and her red hair tied up into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. She stood at five-foot-nine with a heart-shaped face but had very strong facial features, yet still had femininity to it. If it wasn't her day off today, I would have thought she was going to work.

"I have everything with me, do you have what you need?" she asked, always thinking and looking after me for as long as I have been adopted.

"Yes, Pepper, I have everything." I went over to my dresser and grabbed my purse, showing it to her.

"Good, now let's get going because we have a busy day today." She walked away from the door, the tiny heels on her flats clanking on the hardwood floor. Ever since she and my father began dating, Pepper didn't wear heels as often since the both of them were roughly the same height. However, I did feel a bit better sometimes when she didn't around me as well—I was already short and standing next to her made me appear tiny.

"I'm still not looking forward to attending a new school," I said, following her into the living room where my puppy was in his playpen. I wished I could have taken him with us; Happy could have looked after him in the car while we were in the office but Tony wasn't too fond of the idea of the dog being in there all the time.

"Believe me, sweetie, I know you don't but you have to finish up your education," Pepper said, going over to check if there was enough water in my puppy, Charlie's, bowl.

"I already put water in there for him," I announced.

"Sorry, I just had to check. This little guy is so quiet all the time but when he just sees us, he gets so jumpy," she commented, walking over to me.

"I think that's because he knows we're going out. I wish we could take him with us." I glanced at him, seeing his big brown eyes looking so bright and playful.

"I know but I promise that later you and I can go take him for a very long walk," she assured, getting the keys and stood at the door.

"_You are aware that I am able to lock the door for you, Ms. Potts_," the computerized voice of the apartment's artificial intelligence, JARVIS, spoke up. JARVIS was mostly used by my father as his own personal A.I. but he felt like it's fine to share him in the "home environment."

"I know that, JARVIS, but it's a habit that I can't kick," Pepper said. "I am just taking the keys with me so I can open the door when we get back."

"But JARVIS can open it for us, too," I muttered, receiving a playful glare from Pepper.

"Come on, you, we have to get you registered at your new school." She opened the door, waiting for me to walk out.

"JARVIS, please make sure Charlie is fine while we're gone," I requested, somewhat hesitating by the doorway.

"_I'll do the best I can for your puppy, Miss Stark_," JARVIS responded, although I wasn't sure that calmed me.

"Thank you." I glanced one last time at my puppy, and walked out of the apartment.

Pepper closed the door and before she put the key in, the clicking sound of the lock indicated that JARVIS locked the door.

"Well, I guess that's taken care of," she muttered, putting the key in her purse and we both walked over to the elevator.

"I really don't feel like going, Pepper," I sighed, really hoping that I didn't sound whiny as I pushed the down button on the elevator.

"Oh, Alison, you are so much like Tony that it scares me," she sighed, sounding almost exasperated.

"I'm sorry but…I can't help it," I muttered, biting my lip. "I'm really nervous about starting a new school."

"I know you are, but trust me, everything will be fine. We're only here for one year and maybe by then you'll be off at college—where you can go to any one you want back in California." She looked up and walked in, with me close behind her.

"I know that, that's why I'm making sure to do that when I'm back," I said. "And choose whatever major I want."

"However, we both know that Tony would rather you join the family business," she smirked, watching the numbers count back.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah…I'm not so sure if I really want to run Stark Industries. I know Tony kind of had no choice in taking over, but I'm just not sure if that's for me."

"I know, but you know how Tony is—well, now ever since what happened to him years ago."

I nodded, glancing at the door as it finally slides open. Pepper and I walked out of the elevator, through the lobby and out the door where Simon the doorman greeted us.

"Good morning, ladies," he smiled, tipping his hat to us.

"Good morning, Simon," Pepper smiled back.

"Good morning," I timidly said. It was different to have this; back in California we lived in a Malibu beachside mansion—no doormen at all. Only JARVIS. I suppose it was a good change.

Walking a bit further away from the door was my father's other personal assistant and chauffeur, Happy Hogan. Happy, who used to be a former boxer but would usually lose, began working for my father a little after he adopted me and would always look out for all of us. Of course, his birth name isn't "Happy," it was more of a nickname and I liked it for him.

"Hi, Happy," I greeted quietly, slowly walking over to the car.

"Come on, Alison," Pepper said, walking ahead of me. "If you don't get in this car, Happy might have to drag you in."

"He touches me, I'm telling Tony," I retorted.

"Oh, yes, the very overprotective father card. As if I haven't heard that one before," Happy said, opening the back passenger door for Pepper and me.

"It's always kept boys away," I quipped, walking over to Pepper.

"And there she goes with that again," he muttered.

"Hey, it's true." I glanced at him while Pepper got in the car first and then got in after myself.

Happy closed the door and lightly jogged over to the driver's side.

"Are you still upset about what happened with that dance you wanted to go to?" Pepper asked, her motherly tone coming back in.

"Kind of," I admitted, looking out the window as Happy started the car and slowly eased into the New York traffic. "I mean, my father is Tony Stark: a billionaire genius—who is also Iron Man. It just intimidates everyone I meet. Not to mention, it also earned me a lot of fake friends."

"Honey, remember Tony apologized for that and helped you keep the real friends that you have—"

"More like had," I interrupted.

"And I'm sure you can do the same here in New York," she finished, ignoring that I interrupted her.

"Yeah, with that bright personality you have, I'm sure you'll make lots of friends," Happy said, no sarcasm in his voice at all.

"If you guys say so," I muttered, looking out of the window.

"So, just the school and then a couple of errands, Pepper?" Happy asked.

"Yes, it's nothing but a day full of school related activities," Pepper said, looking at her phone.

I continued looking out the window and pulled out my ear-buds to listen to my music. Pepper knew how I'd get sometimes when I needed some alone time; she does wish I wouldn't resort to it but it was a good way to help me relax. Just listening to the relaxing music on my iPod and watching the scenery change outside seemed like a good thing right now. As I kept looking out the window, I noticed something that quickly caught my attention. Seeing that Happy stopped the car, I reached into my purse, rolled down the window, pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of the design before he started driving off.

"What did you take a picture of, Alison?" Pepper asked as I rolled up the window and looked over at the picture.

"This really cool looking design of a spider," I answered, not taking my eyes off of the picture.

It was graffiti art and I'd see a lot of it back in Los Angeles but this one was different. It was a spider—a red spider—designed with its legs having sharp lines and edges, and making it almost looked like an important symbol.

When I finally showed Pepper the image, she looked at it with a puzzled look. "Huh, that's funny. There seems to be a lot of this everywhere here."

"You've seen this before?" I asked, looking at the image again.

"Of course, when Tony and I got here last month, we've seen a lot of it."

"This looks familiar, though," I mused, thinking back to where I've seen it myself.

"You two talking about that spider drawing that's on almost every building here?" Happy asked, glancing at us through the rearview mirror.

"Yes, Happy," Pepper answered, while I was too busy thinking over about where I had seen this spider design before.

"That is the sign of Spider-Man," he said, switching lanes.

"Spider-Man?" I asked, looking up at him for the first time since I took the picture.

"Yeah, he's like some sort of protector of the innocent here in New York," he answered, glancing at me through his rear view mirror and cut the engine. "And we're here."

I was confused for a moment and then looked out the window to see that we were at the school. "No, wait. I want to hear more about what you know of this Spider-Man."

"Sorry, Alison, but we have to get inside and get this over with," Pepper said as Happy got out of the car and jogged over to my side of the car to open the door.

I sighed. "Fine." And grabbed my things.

As I stepped out of the car I took in the building in front of me. It looked like any other ordinary school: tall buildings, green grass and trees everywhere to make it look pretty, benches around for students to sit, and the welcome sign that always seemed to give off the week's announcements. On the outside it didn't really seem like a science only school—unless they just gave it the name to seem like it's meant for one subject. However, despite it looking ordinary, it still felt intimidating; I wasn't sure how in the world I could handle this place by myself.

"So, ready to head in?" Pepper asked, breaking me away from my examinations.

"Yeah, I suppose I am," I answered, feeling even more nervous as Pepper began walking and I followed close behind.

As we walked in, I noticed a couple of students walking around; perhaps these were the ones that had a free period. I looked around the hall, checking out the various posters that were posted on the walls. Basketball, debate team, chess club…just so many different things everywhere.

"This school definitely has a lot of different activities here, doesn't it, Alison?" Pepper mused, glancing at me.

"Yeah, it does," I agreed, looking around still.

When we reached the office, we asked to see the principal and went straight away to getting everything set up. The principal, Mr. Marks, was very impressed with my transcripts and my high grades; he believed that I was the "kind of student Midtown Science needed." Of course, I felt like that could have been a huge load of crap because I was more than positive that there were students that were either just as smart or smarter than I am. Although, I kind of find that the latter might not be true. It usually is hard to find someone smarter than me; however, Tony, Bruce Banner, and a few agents from S.H.I.E.L.D. were ones to help in that department. After a while, he just seemed to drone on and on about how amazing it was to have a Stark attend his school; it was all too much for me to handle so I decided to excuse myself out of the office by saying that I had to use the restroom.

"Okay, why don't you take care of that and I'll do the rest of this," Pepper said, knowing that I was incredibly bored thanks to the principal.

"All right, I'll be back as fast as I can, Pepper," I smiled, getting up from my seat, and walked out of both the principal's and main office.

I let out a sigh of relief when I made it outside to the courtyard. Walking around, I was taking in the scenery the courtyard offered. Trees, flowers and cute little squirrels running around. It seemed so peaceful, like there wasn't anything that could ruin it. Although, I am pretty sure that there might be some fights here and there to ruin this atmosphere. As I continued to walk around, I saw someone crouched down by a bush. I wasn't sure why that was and I couldn't stop myself from looking. It was a boy with brown hair, if his back wasn't facing me I could have made out more of his features. I wanted to keep looking but it was almost as if he knew someone was looking in his direction and turned to look where I was.

I tensed and looked somewhere else, starting to walk in some other direction so he won't see me, but I feel like it could have been too late. I was pretty sure he saw me. _Way to go, Alison_, I scolded myself. I haven't even started school and I already might have freaked out one of the students here. It seemed like instead of being known as Tony Stark's "normal" adoptive daughter, I will now be known as Tony Stark's creepy adoptive daughter that just stares at people.

I walked a bit further along near the trees, hoping that I was somewhat away from the boy I saw. It was interesting to see someone out here, though. I only caught a glimpse of his face and noticed that he was kind of cute; however, I felt like there wouldn't really be much of a chance for me dating until I was finished with school completely. I will admit this, I wasn't the type of girl that always crushed on the jocks or athletes, I was more of the brains over beauty kind of girl—looks would be a bonus, if that were possible.

As I continued to walk, I didn't notice the skateboard on the ground and tripped over it. I was about to hit the concrete face first until I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, stopping my fall. Gasping, I was shocked as to who could make it so quickly to where I was to save me from falling. Well, "save me" seemed like a bit too much but it seemed to have helped me from earning a lot of questions from Pepper later. My rescuer straightened me up and then slowly backed away.

"That was a really close call," a male voice said behind me.

"Yeah, that was. Um, thank you," I said, turning around and looked to see that it was the same boy I was staring at earlier.

I tensed, getting very nervous again knowing that it was the same boy that might think I was a creeper. Biting the inside of my lip, I kept my mouth shut—hoping that he might not ask why I was staring at him.

"Uh, are you all right?" he asked, sounding concerned. "You look pretty nervous about something."

"I'm really sorry for staring earlier," I blurted, feeling my eyes widen a bit.

"Oh," he chuckled, waved it off. "Don't worry about that. I'm used to people staring or just ignoring me while I'm taking pictures." He showed his camera that was slung over his shoulder.

"You're a photographer?" I asked, looking with such curiosity rather than distain at the camera. It seemed highly unlikely for paparazzi hiding out in schools.

"Kind of. I mean, I'm not really a professional but I do take a lot of pictures. And I'm also the school's photographer," he said.

I nodded, slowly feeling comfortable again. I looked up at him, noticing that he was really cute. He was tall—probably around six feet—had a strong jawline, straight nose; his face appeared to make him look so much like a late teenager, just entering into adulthood—something I wished I had. However, I couldn't look away from his eyes; deep chocolate brown that could make any girl's heart melt.

"Oh, umm, I'm sorry I hadn't properly introduced myself," he apologized, holding out his hand to me, and smiled an adorable smile. "I'm Peter Parker."

"Hi, Peter, I'm Alison Stark," I smiled back, placing my hand in his, shaking them.

His eyes squinted a bit in confusion as he let go of my hand. "Stark? Wait, you're Tony Stark's daughter, aren't you?"

I nodded, already regretting that I said my last name. "Yes, I am Tony Stark's daughter."

"Wow, that's really awesome that the world's most famous billionaire genius' daughter is here," he said, sounding genuinely pleased with the idea of this.

"I-it is?" I asked, this time being confused by this. "Most of the time people just run as soon as they hear that I'm a Stark."

"Really? Why would they?" he asked, confused. "I mean, your father is one of the few billionaires that is actually willing to use clean energy resources in his new building. Not many people seem to realize who great that'll be for the world's future."

I tried with great difficulty not to smile at what he just said—it was the exact same thing Tony and I were saying when he first came up with the idea of it for the Stark Tower.

"Yes, but some people aren't really fond of the other thing about my father," I countered a bit quietly.

"You mean how he's Iron Man?" he quirked a brow.

"Exactly," I answered, quietly clicking my tongue against my teeth. "Most people think that with him being Iron Man can cause more harm than good."

"Well, I wouldn't be sure since he pretty much saved New York in the spring."

"It wasn't just him, you know," I smirked, thinking back to that day. Of course, when I was there I used a camouflage devise to help disguise myself in order to not be recognized by others. No one saw Alison Stark, only this mysterious woman that no one knew.

"Yeah, I know that but it doesn't mean that Tony Stark should cause fear or intimidation in others anymore," he said, reaching down and picked up the skateboard off the ground. The _same_ skateboard I tripped on.

"Wait a minute. That's _your_ skateboard?" I asked, eyeing it as I thought back to what happened not long ago.

"Umm, yeah," he chuckled nervously, slipping off his back and placed his skateboard between the straps of it. "I left it here thinking that no one was going to come near this part of the courtyard at all."

I nodded slowly, thinking again about how I remembered that Peter was a little more than twenty feet away from where I was walking. "That's weird."

"What is?" he asked, looking at me curiously.

I forgot that I said that out loud, there really wasn't much for me to get out of this. "How did you get over to me so fast? I mean, you were, like, nowhere near me at all."

"Oh, that." He cleared his throat. "Well, when you looked away I was a bit curious since you're obviously new here, and I guess I just couldn't look away from you."

It was difficult to believe that since it does seem true. Thanks to my training with S.H.I.E.L.D. I was able to spot liars a mile away, and it was difficult right now to tell with Peter Parker. There's something about him that read he was different but I wasn't sure why. I didn't dwell on it that much longer, maybe there wasn't much of a chance that I'd get to know Peter Parker during this school year. This high school is pretty big and it might not be possible that I'd see him so often.

"Umm, well, thanks—I suppose," I smiled shyly.

"So, it'll be your first day here soon?" he asked, grabbing his camera and played with the settings on it.

"Yeah, I'm starting tomorrow," I answered, watching his hands on the camera. "My dad's girlfriend is inside getting my stuff set for me. I was there for a while but Principal Marks was…I guess praising my accomplishments too much. Not really into that."

He nodded. "Well, I'm sure they're finished by now. If you want I can walk you back to the office?"

"Sure, I'd like that," I smiled, thinking it was a nice of him to do this, and it is better coming from a nice guy than those jerks that tried being around me thanks to having a very wealthy father.

Peter picked up his backpack and skateboard, and we started walking out of the courtyard. It was strange being around another boy my age in school that wasn't really asking questions about my father or how much money I had, and I was hoping that it would be this way for the rest of the year with everyone else.

"So, how long have you been in New York?" he asked, still having his camera in his hands.

"Technically, I just got here last night," I sighed quietly. "I'm still very tired and still haven't done much because my dad wants us to get the important things finished first."

"Just curious, does he ever sleep?" he looked at me, brow raised with a lot of curiosity. "You know, since he's having you get a lot of stuff done and you haven't slept well."

"Not for long," I answered honestly. It was sometimes difficult for Tony to really sleep since to that electromagnetic arc reactor that was implanted in his chest made it seemed like he ran on some sort of battery—especially with the new one he created, he was really up thanks to it.

"Well, I'm sure one day he can try to relax and take a much needed break," he suggested.

I scoffed. "Sorry but for a while I'd suggest that to my dad, he won't really do it. Maybe a bit later but…I don't see it happening any time soon."

He nodded again, and held up his camera to face me. For a bit I was stunned but then smiled as best as I could before the flash went off. Once it was taken, he pulled the camera away from his face and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry. I can't help myself sometimes. You just looked so perfect here in the lighting and everything was just…amazing. I won't do it again without your consent," he said, his brown eyes showing how truly sorry he was.

"Don't worry, you just caught me off guard," I shrugged. At least it wasn't like one time where I was ambushed by paparazzi—_that_ was definitely bad. I wasn't sure how Tony could handle it.

"I really mean it, though. I don't want you to think that I'll be one of those guys that'll give this up to the media or anything like that."

"Why, were you thinking about doing that, Peter?" I asked, raising a brow accusingly.

"Umm, no…I-I-I really wasn't going to do it. I swear—I really won't do it again," he stammered nervously.

"Hey, it's okay. I was only kidding. You seem too much of a nice guy to do that to someone," I reassured, looking into his eyes so he could believe me.

"Okay, because you really scared me with that," he sighed in relief and laughed weakly. "It's kind of frightening now when I think of your father."

"I thought people shouldn't fear or be intimidated by my father anymore?" I asked, repeating what Peter said earlier.

"No, I know that they shouldn't but how I've never really met the man—it seems like he's one of those fathers that's pretty protective of their daughters," he admitted, slowly coming to a stop.

I noticed that we were really close to the main office. How did I not realize this? I'm always alert and aware of my entire surroundings—well, I _was _always alert and aware until I ran into Peter. There was something about this Peter Parker that seemed to make me nearly forget that—hopefully Pepper doesn't find out.

"Well, you got that right. Tony is very protective of me," I admitted, saying Tony's actual name for the first time in front of Peter.

"Do you have any idea why that is?" he asked, curious.

It was interesting seeing someone actually curious about my life and not trying to get it out of me for the wrong reasons.

Before I could answer, I heard my name being called.

"Alison!"

Turning around, I saw Pepper standing by the office door and looking in the direction Peter and I were standing.

"One second," I said, turning back to Peter. "I'd better go. My…mother of sorts is ready for us to go get the rest of our errands finished today."

"Yeah, it's fine. It's perfectly understandable," Peter said, giving me a crooked-slash-kind-of-dorky smile. "Umm, I'll see you tomorrow. Well, that is _if_ I see you tomorrow."

I shrugged. "You never know. Things happen," I smiled. "See you later, Peter."

"See you, Alison." His smiled never wavered one bit.

I walked over to Pepper, who was smiling kindly to Peter. When I reached her, she linked our arms and we walked to the school's entrance. Glancing behind me, I saw Peter still standing there and smiled at him again—which he returned.

"So, who's your new friend?" Pepper asked when we were earshot away from Peter.

"His name is Peter." And I must say, I wasn't much against the idea of having Peter Parker as a friend at all.

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**Author's Note: Well, that was my first chapter, I hope you all liked it every much. Please make sure you favor, follow and review this. I already have the second chapter finished and if I get at least a decent amount of reviews, I'll be sure to post it. Also if there are any questions to any of this I'll hopefully have them answered in a chapter or responding to reviews. Again, I really hope you all liked this, this is the first time I've ever tried doing something like this and I'm really looking forward to writing more of it. And I'd truly appreciate it if you all would just take the time and leave me a little review since I am pretty nervous about this, so please review and I'll be sure to post the new chapter as soon as possible. :)**


	2. First Day First Impressions

**Author's Note: I am so glad you all liked the first chapter! It means so much to me that you all enjoyed it! So sorry that it took some time for me to update since I was taking care of my sick six-year-old and got a bit under the weather myself thanks to my allergies. But here is the new chapter and I made sure to make it a bit longer than the previous one. Hope you all enjoy and make sure to review after you are finished! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to _The Amazing Spider-Man _or _Iron Man_. They belong to Sony, Marvel and Disney—yes Disney does own Marvel but Sony ****still has rights over the Spider-Man films.**

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**First Day. First Impressions.**

"Oh, man. I think I bought enough clothes to last me until my senior year of college," I said, hauling four large bags of clothes with me from the elevator.

"Well, you did leave most of your other things back in LA believing that you could convince Tony to let us move back but after today…I don't think you will," Pepper smirked, following me with a few of her own bags and my purchases, and walked to our door.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, confused as to what she could mean.

"That boy you met today at the school." She glanced at me as she stopped in front of the door.

"You mean Peter? He was just being friendly," I said, watching her open the door and entered with most of the stuff.

"I'm sure that's what he was doing," she giggled, a teasing tone in her voice.

I followed her with my own things and nearly kicked the door closed until Happy followed us with more stuff.

"Oops," I bit my lip, in complete disbelief that I forgot about him. "Sorry, Happy."

"Last time I go shopping with you two," he muttered, bringing in more bags.

"Oh, Happy, I'm sure this is the first of many that'll happen since we're going to be here," Pepper said, placing the bags near the coffee table.

I dropped my own bags near hers and made my way over to my puppy. Charlie was really happy to see me; his ears picked up and tail wagging with excitement. I smiled at him, opened the door to his crate and felt him jump into my arms, licking my cheek affectionately.

"Charlie!" I squeaked, holding back a laugh and scratching him behind the ears.

"Looks like he really missed you," Pepper commented, coming over to where Charlie and I were.

"Yes he did," I giggled, moving Charlie back as he tried licking my face again.

Hearing a phone ring, I looked up and saw Pepper answer her cell phone. "Hello? Yes, this is Virginia Potts." There was pause, I watched Pepper's brow furrow. "Yes, but I specifically asked that they'd move—" Another pause. "Of course…I'll-I'll be right there," she sighed heavily and ended the call.

"What happened?" I asked, letting go of my puppy and got up.

"That was the contractor and the interior decorator, and they were doing some last minute touchups in your father's office but it seems like they made a _very_ huge mistake. So now I have to go over there to take care of everything before Tony sees it." She rubbed her temples, and grabbed her things.

"Wait, he's not there?" I asked, confused. He said he was going to be at both Stark Tower and the labs to check on everything.

"He was there but I'm guessing he went to the labs."

"So I guess I'll be here by myself, right?" I muttered, feeling my mood go down a bit. Can never assume things will be a just at home day.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. I know you wanted us to have a day to ourselves but if I don't see what is wrong, then there will be problems between your father and the people we thought would listen to us," she explained, wrapping her arms around me like a mother would for her child.

Though, that was the thing. Pepper is not my mother. My actual mother died when I was eight and then Tony Stark adopted me. Sometimes I wouldn't mind it if Pepper would adopt me, too, because she has always treated me like I was her own child. It was great to always have her around; for a while Tony was never really there—which always made people wonder why he even adopted me in the first place. But, little did they know, there were always small acts of Tony's kindness that made me grow to love and respect him like a kid should for their parent. Of course, Pepper got that much faster than he did but it still happened—especially a lot after his kidnapping and return years ago.

I nodded; she pulled away and fixed my hair, smiling her motherly smile at me. "I promise that as soon as I get back, we'll have our walk with Charlie."

"Don't worry, I'll ask Happy to help me out," I said, glancing at him for help.

"Yeah, I'll be with her when she walks the dog," he agreed, giving me a quick glance of his own. Of course, Happy didn't have anything against Charlie; it was just that I kind of put him on the spot because I couldn't really think of anything else that might probably cheer Pepper up.

"Okay," Pepper murmured, walking over to the coffee table to retrieve her purse. She looked back in my direction. "I'm really sorry, Alison. I will make this up to you."

"No, don't worry, Pepper. It's completely fine. Things always happen, I get it," I reassured, giving her the best smile I could give.

She looked at me, not knowing if she should accept the smile or not. But, luckily, she did; she graced me with one of her own, and looked to Happy. "Do you mind driving me to the Tower?"

"No, not at all," he answered, going over to the door.

"And make sure you come back to help Alison with walking her dog."

"He can help with that but I can take care of myself, Pepper. Plus, JARVIS is always around, and I won't be completely alone if Happy needs to do anything else," I said, waiting for the A.I. to speak but heard nothing. "JARVIS will answer…soon. Please, Pepper, I'll be fine on my own."

She seemed conflicted, she never liked the idea of me being on my own at all.

"_Not to worry, Ms. Potts, Miss Stark shall be perfectly fine with my supervision_," JARVIS said, finally announcing his presence.

"Thank you, JARVIS," she said although that didn't really seem to ease her.

"Go, Pepper. You don't want Tony seeing his office and then getting how he normally gets when it's not the way he wants it."

She sighed and nodded. "Okay, be good while I'm gone, Alison."

"I will," I answered, grabbing the bags to get ready to place them in my room.

Pepper looked at me one more time before nodding to herself, walking over to the door when Happy opened it, and walked out with him following her. Once I heard JARVIS lock the door, I whistled for Charlie and walked down the hall to my room with him following. When we reached my room, I placed the bags near the closet and watched Charlie sniff around them.

"Come on, Charlie," I called, giving him a little whistle.

I heard him give a little bark and heard a tiny beeping sound coming from my laptop.

"_Miss Stark, I'm afraid I am unable to access who is contacting you. It appears that the video message is private_," JARVIS said, his voice making my dog give curious looks up toward the ceiling.

"I have a clue as whom it might be, JARVIS." I walked over to my desk, tapped a few keys on my laptop, accepted the message and saw Director Fury's stern face on my computer screen.

"I was wondering when you were going to answer," he said, his tone stern as always.

"It's good to see you, too, Director," I said, trying not to sound as sarcastic as I'd like.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury is one of the most highly skilled agents/spies ever. He is African American with an eye-patch over his left eye, bald, has a goatee, and has worked with my adopted grandfather—Howard Stark—since the very beginning when he was a founding member of the agency. It always seemed odd for me that even at the age that Fury was, he was still very much active—especially after that run-in with Loki.

"I can see that the sarcasm is very much minimal this time, Alison. Starting to make me wonder how you can be so tired," he commented.

"Well, Director, I am very much tired since I haven't been sleeping well," I shot back. "Is there a reason as to why you're calling me?"

"Yes, you're needed on the Helicarrier—ASAP. I've got a couple things I need to speak with you about."

"Can't that just happen here? I'm home alone," I said, glancing at Charlie. "Not to mention, I'm home alone with Charlie."

Director Fury looked over my shoulder and saw my dog. For a while I thought that would allow him to get that warm and fuzzy feeling look that everyone gets when seeing puppies but it looks like it didn't do it so much.

"Real cute, Alison, but you're needed up in the Helicarrier. Now." He cut the connection and the screen turned back to the image that was used for my wallpaper.

Sighing, I shook my head and walked over to Charlie. "Sorry, boy. I guess I might have to leave you in your crate and you'll definitely have to wait for Happy to get here to walk you."

He just looked at me; ears perked up and tail wagging. I picked him up, glad that he was still kind of small enough for me to hold, and kissed his little head. I walked out of my room, down the hall and back to the living room where his crate was. I knelt down, opened the door and put him inside.

"I really hope Happy will be here soon so he can be with you. It doesn't seem right leaving you here," I said, trying not to pout.

"_Miss Stark, if I may, perhaps you should write a note so Mr. Hogan can have an understanding as to where you are_," JARVIS suggested, always finding the right time to speak.

"Not a bad idea," I mused. "Thanks, JARIVS." I rushed back to my room, grabbed my one of my oversized train cases, opened it up and saw all my special gadgets.

It kind of felt great seeing all my weapons and tools that I used whenever I was on missions or had assignments to do for S.H.I.E.L.D. I hadn't really seen much of them since I was on some sort of sabbatical after what had happened with Loki. Fighting an alien species and getting beat up all over was really something to hide from school after having a week off in order to recover. Of course, I was able to catch up fairly quickly since Director Fury gave me some time off but I still had bruises and healing cuts all over my pale skin. Pepper was in total mother mode about that; she even scolded Tony for saying that it was just a few battle wounds. Shaking my head, I cleared my thoughts from everything else to focus on the task I had. Grabbing the things I needed: my ID card, a pair of sunglasses I modified, my jacket from the agency that holds a couple of hidden gadgets and weapons, and lastly one of my guns strapped in thigh holster. Personally, I wasn't a gun person but it was required by the agency to have one for "just-in-case" measures.

Closing up the case, I got up and pulled off my coat. When my coat was off, I began untying my converse—I never really liked taking them with me on the Helicarrier and I always wore boots. Perhaps it was the idea of it helping me achieve more of a height that made me prefer them. Zipping up the navy blue jacket, I slipped on the belt with the holster, strapped it around my thigh and placed my gun—with the safety on—in. Making sure that I had everything, ID, gadgets and glasses, I searched in my closet and pulled out my wedged boots. Sure, the idea of it may not seem like it's comfortable but these were the ones I'd always wear and they never bothered me. I knew I was ready to go but I didn't _feel_ ready to go. Maybe being off for months was the reason; I wasn't fully comfortable with the idea of being there as much but I had to. There was no doubt that perhaps Fury would give me to some sort of assignment.

_Maybe being assigned one wouldn't be _so_ bad, _I mused, biting my lip as I walked out of my room. Slipping my hand in one of the pockets of my jacket, I pulled out a black elastic band and tied my hair up in a neat ponytail—or as neatly as I could thanks to my outgrown bangs. When I reached the living room, I find a pad and pen, and wrote the note for Happy. If anything, I'd most likely get a call from Tony about this.

"Sorry Dad," I muttered to myself as I finished off the note. "But when the boss calls, I gotta do as he says."

I jogged over to the kitchen, stuck the note on the fridge with a magnet, ran over to Charlie to say bye, and went over to the door.

"I'm leaving, JARVIS," I said, placing my hand on the handle.

"_I must advise that your father won't be too pleased with you leaving on your own, Miss Stark_," he replied, knowing the same thing I was thinking.

"I know but I gotta go," I sighed.

I walked out before he could say anything else and heard the door lock behind me. I lived on the top floor of the building, glad that I didn't have to be cautious about going to the roof. I walked all the way to stairs, opened the door and climbed two flight of stairs until I reached the door to enter the roof. Placing my hand on the handle, I checked to see if it was locked and sighed with relief when it opened. I walked out onto the roof and looked up, squinting my eyes against the mid-afternoon sky. It was a good thing that I brought my sunglasses with me; I took them out, put them on and fiddled around along the side of the frames until I had it on the feature to help me search for the Helicarrier. The Helicarrier was able to blend with anything with its camouflage feature in order to shield itself from civilians. It would seem strange if someone were to see a flying aircraft over New York, definitely something that would attract so much attention.

I searched the sky a bit more until I found it. The Helicarrier was a couple of buildings away; I pulled out my earpiece, clipped it on and contacted one of the agents.

"This is Agent Stark, I need ride up to the Helicarrier."

* * *

The ride up to the Helicarrier was faster than I expected, I instantly knew that Fury really wanted me up here. _Yep, I am getting an assignment._ I walked down the corridor from the landing bay to the control room but before I reached it, a voice got my attention.

"Didn't think I'd see you here."

I turned to my left and saw Steve Rogers, Captain America, standing there with a duffle bag in his hand and what looked like a folder in his left.

"Steve?" I was surprised to see him here. I hadn't seen him since after what happened months ago. "It's great to see you again."

"Yes. It has been while," he said, walking over.

I still couldn't believe that he was here; last time I saw him he was riding a motorcycle, in my opinion, out of New York. It wouldn't have surprised me if he had stayed here, though. In his file he was a New York boy and was proud of it. Steve was dressed in clothing that were from the 40s; I wouldn't have really pictured him in jeans or wearing anything else that was from this century at all. Just everything about him screamed 1940s: his hair cut, his clothes, the way he spoke—a total 40s guy. But, if I was being honest with myself, I was glad to see a friend here, even if said friend is technically old enough to be my grandfather.

"Yeah." I glanced at his bag, curious. "What are you doing here? Is Fury needing you for something?" The idea of Fury possibly even assigning the both of to the same job was something I wouldn't mind. Captain American knew how to kick some serious butt.

"No, I was on my way to the gym but Director Fury told me that he still had a few of my things and thought I should get them now," he said, lifting the folder up for me to see.

"You sure it's not a file he wants you to read for a mission?" I joked, smiling a bit when he chuckled.

"No, I looked it over and it's my papers. He even helped me acquire a new license since mine…expired."

Of course, the idea of having a license that expired seventy years ago is something no one should have. _Great, I'm sounding like Tony._ "Be glad my dad's not here to joke about that."

"Ah, yes. Tony does know how to get under a person's skin, doesn't he?" he mused, a grim smirk gracing his face.

I nodded, thinking back; it was something he was known for when trying to lighten the mood on things. He could mess around with people that way but it wasn't easy to get used to…at first. I still remember the time we all were here: Tony was messing around with Captain America about his age and how he was frozen in ice. I myself found it odd that he was here after being frozen for seventy years but I had to play mediator between these two. At least I managed to get a jab of my own, but to Tony about how Steve may have technically been older, he physically looked younger than him—which then led to Tony almost believing that I was developing a crush on Steve. Good thing I put a stop to that; however, he of all people should have known by now that I will probably not be interested in dating for a _long_ time.

I mentally sighed, _I over-think too much._

"Well, I'd better get going. I'm sure you're probably in a hurry," he said, breaking me out of my obsessive inner-monologue; watching him open his bag and carefully placed the folder in there.

"'Hurry' wouldn't really be the word I'd use for this." I tried with great difficulty to not roll my eyes. "Director Fury needs me for something. I'm not sure what it is, though."

"Maybe you're the one that's going to be assigned a mission?" he questioned, trying not to smirk, amusement very much evident in his blue eyes.

"I seriously hope not." But then I'd be lying to myself; I kind of _do_ want one.

"Good luck, Alison." He gave me one last smile and walked down to the landing bay.

"Thanks," I murmured. I knew he was gone but he could probably still hear me—this corridor was unusually quiet today.

I walked again until I reached the control room; the doors slid open and I heard the tapping of fingers on keyboards and people talking—giving orders and answering to whatever was being asked. Looking around, I saw Agent Maria Hill watching over everyone in the control room. She was mostly seen as Fury's second in command; they were pretty much the bosses of everything and every agent addressed them that way.

"Alison?" She looked over my way, surprised to see me. It was definite that Agent Hill had no idea I was even going to be here.

"Hello," I greeted weakly, giving a small smile.

"I-I didn't know you were going to be here." Her dark brows furrowed as I walked over to her. "Did Director Fury ask you to be here?"

"He said I was needed here and I honestly have no clue as to why," I shrugged, crossing my arms.

"I asked you to come here because I got a job for you." His voice came from the other side of the room and we both turned to see him walk over to us.

Director Fury was dressed in his usual black on black attire with his usual black leather trench coat. His expression wasn't very stern this time, which is a total first. Maybe this assignment wasn't going to be too extreme as I would have believed.

"What kind of job?" I asked, uncrossing my arms and stood up a bit straighter.

"Follow me." He turned on his heel and began walking. "You're in charge here, Hill."

"Yes sir," she said, glancing at me and looked over at everything else.

I followed Director Fury; definitely curious about this job he was going to assign me if it meant we were going to speak in private. We walked into a room that appeared to be a conference room of sorts; there was a large metal table with seven chairs around it. The room was designed just like everything else in the Helicarrier: technology everywhere, monitors wherever I looked…everything about it screamed S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Sit." I did as he said. He walked over to a computer that was hooked up near the table. Looking back in my direction as he sat in one of the chairs. "Do you know anything about this?" He clicked a key on the keyboard, the lights turned off and a holographic picture of a red spider showed up in the middle of the table.

I looked at it and saw that it was the same spider design that I saw on my way to the school. Red, strong and angled eight legs—even for a hologram it looked just like it would if I were seeing it spray-painted on a brick wall.

"Probably a lot less than you do, sir," I answered, trying not to sound like my father.

"Very funny, Stark," he said, his tone getting stern. A tone I have always heard said to one person in particular.

_Oh yeah, I probably _did_ seem like Tony on that. _"Well, Director, I've never really paid attention until my chauffer explained to me that it was the symbol of some new hero protecting New York," I stated, sounding a lot better than I had before.

"Well, he was right." He typed something else and more photos appeared, only this time of a man dressed in red and blue spandex.

I must admit, the suit was pretty amazing; there was some faint black webbing designs wherever there was red—along his chest, abdomen, his gloves, mask and his boots. The blue was just a solid color but it showed off the lean muscle along his arms and legs. The mask definitely caught my attention, the eyes of it were glassy yellow and I knew that it was perfect to hide the actual eyes of whoever was behind the mask.

"Is that…"

"I had a feeling you might know something about this guy," he muttered, getting up. "He calls himself Spider-Man—a defender of the innocent. However, he first started out by going after guys with some pretty serious rap sheets."

"So he started out as a vigilante. Who hasn't?" I shrugged, thinking back to when Tony first started being Iron Man and everyone thought he was just some vigilante nuisance that will cause so much trouble for everyone.

"That may be the case but after a while, he started going after this guy." He slid over a tablet across the table to me. Picking it up, I turned it on and saw a picture of a man with thinning dark blond hair, horn rimmed glasses, large nose and looked like he was in his forties.

As I looked at the picture, I couldn't help but think he looked familiar. I squinted a bit in concentration and looked up at Director Fury. "Wait, this guy…that's-that's Dr. Curtis Connors."

"Yes." He clicked another key and the tablet in my hand turned off, showing the picture in front of me. "Dr. Curtis Connors, a biochemist at Oscorp, who for years has tried to combine human and animal DNA in order to cure illnesses and diseases."

"Cross-species genetics," I uttered, thinking about when I skimmed through a book of his and how he thought it would be the greatest thing to happen for all mankind. "But, Director, that's not simple. I remember when one of my science teachers was talking about Connors' theory and how insane it was to even think up the idea of combing human and animal DNA. He even went as far as calling him a mad scientist."

"Mad scientist insane—yes. But the man did do it." His face was grim as I looked up at him, shocked at that announcement. "Although I must warn that there were side effects to him creating a serum and used cross-species genetics." Fury hit another key and a video of what appeared to be a mutated lizard standing near nine feet tall and ran around New York—causing nothing but destruction in his wake.

"What the hell is that?" I breathed, really disturbed by this thing in front of me.

"That, Agent Stark, is Dr. Connors," he said, looking at the video and then at me again. "He tested the serum on himself—which he made by using lizard DNA. He used it because he was fully aware that lizards have regenerative properties since they are able to regrow lost limbs."

"And he was making this serum to regrow his arm?" I questioned, trying not to seem confused about this. It seemed strange that he would actually try this on himself, most scientists normally used test subjects rather than themselves. _Perhaps he is mad after all._

"Dr. Connors was actually trying to create some type of cure for the terminally ill, Norman Osborn—Oscorp's main guy."`

That confused me even more. "Okay, so Connors made this serum that was intended for his boss but made it for his own personal gain; however, it backfired and now you want me to go after him?"

"No, he was stopped by Spider-Man," he sighed. "Spider-Man stopped him on time because Connors wanted to make everyone in New York just like him when he took the serum—an overgrown lizard. And thanks to Spider-Man, Dr. Connors is locked away."

"And what am I going to do? Congratulate him? Throw him a parade in his honor?" I questioned, not entirely sure as to why I was needed. At first I thought I was going to go after Lizard Connors but now that he said that Spider-Man stopped him, what's the whole point of me being here?

"Actually, I was thinking maybe he'd join us—he would be an interesting addition to both the agency and the team," he said, turning off the holograms in front of me and the lights in the room turned back on.

"Hang on. The team? You want Spider-Man to be a part of the Avengers?" I asked, very surprised about this. I would have thought I'd joined since I pretty much fought with the others against Loki and the Chitauri army.

"Of course, his abilities will make the team a lot stronger than it already is." He paused, thinking over something. "And perhaps, make you officially part of the team."

"Make me official?" I would love that but I still couldn't stop thinking about something. "But you never told me about why I'm here, Director."

"Your job, Alison, is that you are going to convince Spider-Man to join S.H.I.E.L.D."

My eyes widened. "What?!"

"I said, you're going to convince Spider-Man to join S.H.I.E.L.D.," he repeated.

"B-b-but how am _I _going to convince him to join the agency?" I asked, getting up. "What if he's so stubborn to even hear me out? I'm not cut out for this stuff, Director."

"You were trained to be, not only a good agent with fighting and weapon wielding expertise but also be a rather well consultant. To speak so eloquently that you can make a car salesman sell _you_ his own car," he said. I was about to say something else until he cut me off. "It won't be so hard. I've seen you talk your way out of so many things, I've seen you influence so many people into believing your words."

"Most of that was during my training. I've recently starting going into the field with this stuff with Agent Coulson until what happened in the spring." I stopped, sighing. It was still hard to get over that my mentor was gone—well, one of them. I learned so much from Phil Coulson about what I needed to do when I was either consulting or interrogating.

"Look, I know Coulson's death has affected everyone, but he had even said you are ready when it comes to being on the field by yourself." I crossed my arms, listening. "Alison, if Phil Coulson was here, he would have said you're ready. We all know you are."

"Consulting was his job; not mine," I countered, trying with great difficulty to not act like a child.

"Then listen to me when I say this: Phil Coulson himself said that you are great at this as he was." His unpatched eye stared at me. "Do it for him."

"Fine," I sighed. "I'll do it for Phil." I uncrossed my arms. "What should I do?"

"First, you'll need to find Spider-Man," he said, walking over to a nearby table and picked up a folder. "That'll probably be quite simple since he's around your area."

He walked back, handing me the folder. Taking it, I opened it up and saw very little information on this guy. "There isn't much for me to go with here."

"I'm sure you'll know a lot more about him as soon as you begin associating with him. Make sure you get him to see that S.H.I.E.L.D. is the right choice."

I thought about it, getting bit of a knot in my stomach about just the thought of telling him that he must join S.H.I.E.L.D. Biting the inside of my cheek, I asked, "I have to do this as myself, right?"

"Yes, if you want him to trust you, you'll have to just be yourself. Meaning do not use the camouflage technology to let him think you're someone else," he stated, making me dread the idea of just being assigned this job.

"Well, I hope he's not smart enough to know that it's me." No matter how much I hated the idea of this, it's my first solo job and I had to do it.

* * *

When I got back home, I was bombarded with questions from Pepper about where I was. Tony at least calmed her down into letting her know that I was at least back safe and sound, but what I had to tell him next wasn't so easy. At least from my perspective. He knew that I was in the Helicarrier—not the thing itself but knew that I was busy doing stuff for S.H.I.E.L.D. I mean, where else would I go? I didn't know this city so well and I could have easily gotten lost, as Pepper put it. Sure not being familiar with this place was correct but it didn't mean that I couldn't find my way around here. It annoyed me a bit that she'd think that, it seemed something that Tony would think and he's gotten pretty protective of me.

Sighing, I looked over the little information I had about Spider-Man. I was pleased that Tony didn't ask so many questions about my assignment, he of all people knew that certain things should remain classified unless he was involved. I may have felt like I should address of this to him but Fury might have blown a fuse if I suggested that. As I read, holding a pencil in my hand, I beginning to lose interest in reading and started to draw the spider on the suit. Spiders never really were creatures I enjoyed, I suppose one would say I have arachnophobia but it was never really extreme. Seeing them enclosed in cases or on television were fine but up-close was something else.

A knock on my door drew me away from the ten spider drawings I had done. I saw that I was already creating a web. _Yeah, I got spiders on the brain._ "Yeah?"

"Alison, it's time for bed. You've got school tomorrow and you've locked yourself up in your room ever since you got back," Pepper said from the other side of the door.

"What?" I whispered. I looked at the clock on my phone and saw that it was already ten. _Wow, I really do get caught up in my mulling._

I was about to massage my temples until I felt the frame of my glasses against my fingertips. I didn't even remember when I took off my contact lenses and put them on._ I must have been out of it._ I tried remembering everything else after I got back and Pepper's questions, there was no doubt I was on autopilot through out everything else. Did I even have dinner? The taste of mint on my breath suggested that I must have since I already brushed my teeth. I touched hair and felt that it was somewhat wet, a sign that I showered—something I was unaware that I had done.

"God, I hate getting an assignment," I groaned. There was another knock on my door. "Yeah, Pepper, I'm going to bed soon. Don't worry."

"It's not Pepper." A male voice said this time.

_Crap._ "Come in, Dad."

The door opened and I saw my father enter my room, holding a mug in his hand. I glanced over at Charlie and saw that he was sitting up in his little bed, watching Tony enter.

He looked at my puppy, raising an eyebrow. "I'm only here to see my kid, not you."

"Stop being mean to my dog," I chided, a small smile on my lips. I knew some day Tony will warm up to the idea of us having a dog and the messing around about him is all he can handle. In my opinion, it was Tony's way of showing that he cared about Charlie.

He placed the mug that was in his hand on my desk. "I brought you some tea. I know you have a big day tomorrow and figured this could help calm your nerves—if you are nervous."

I looked at the burgundy mug; seeing that he placed a chamomile tea bag, one of my favorite teas. It looked fine, I knew Tony wouldn't do anything bad to it but he wasn't very good with his tea and honey ratio that there were times where there was more honey than the taste of the tea. Picking it up, I took a small sip and the taste of chamomile with a hint of honey hit my tongue.

"Thanks, Dad," I said, taking another sip.

"I finally got it right," he muttered, sitting on my bed and looked at me. I turned in my chair and watched him. "Took me eight months to get it right."

"I guess tea is a science that takes time," I teased, sipping my tea. I was starting to feel relaxed, I guess I must have been pretty tense about the idea of the job Fury gave me and school that I hadn't even realized it.

He nodded, appearing tired. I figured exhaustion was finally hitting him; for a month he was busy getting us ready to be here that he hadn't slept well. Looking more closely at my father, I was able to see the bags under his eyes; he hadn't really shaved and it seemed like the goatee he's always sported was starting to turn into a beard. His dark brown hair was a bit disheveled, no doubt from running his hands through it all day, but despite that his brown eyes still looked like they held the light of the jokester that he was.

"So, you seem ready for tomorrow."

"I'm not."

"And why is that? Do you think it's because you won't find an outfit in any of the new bags you bought today?" He smirked, eying the empty bags near my closet.

"It's not that. I don't feel like going," I confessed. "I'm scared that I won't fit in again. I mean I didn't really have any real friends back at my old school, what could be so different here?"

"It's a science based school and you don't have to worry about making new friends," he stated.

My brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Pepper told me that you already met someone at the school today and that you were actually smiling more," he said, amusement lighting up in his eyes.

"She told you?" Why?! Pepper shouldn't have told him, Tony was already overprotective as it was and knowing that I talked to a boy today would make it worse.

"Relax. I'm not going to go after this kid because he was speaking with you." He raised his hands, sitting up straight. "As long as he's just friends with you it's fine. The last thing I wanted to think about is my daughter already dating someone at her new school and—"

"Okay, Dad, I think it's time for me to go to bed and for you to get out of my room," I cut him off, gulping down my tea and getting up.

"What? I'm just saying that if you date anyone and I find out who he was, I'm going to have a full background check to see if I approve of them." From the tone of his voice, I was able to tell that this was the Tony Stark I knew too well.

"No." I walked over to him, pulled him up from my bed and motioned for him out of my room. "Come on, I have a big day tomorrow and I need to sleep."

"Oh sure, _now_ you want to sleep. Before you were all quiet because of work and hating school—a school that you have yet to attend—where there is a boy that you've already befriended."

"Dad, out. Please?"

"Fine, I'm going to bed." He walked over to the door and glanced at my desk. "And make sure you pick up your room."

"Sure, _now_ you're being a dad," I muttered, sarcasm lacing my every word.

"Not amusing. 'Night, kiddo." He left, closing the door behind him.

I groaned, flopping onto my bed. Taking off my glasses, I rubbed at my face; I was already starting to feel tired and thanks to the tea, I was able to feel even more tired. Sliding back on my glasses, I got up, walked over to the light switch, turned off the lights and carefully made my way back to my bed. I turned on the lamp on the nightstand next to me, took off my glasses and set the alarm on my phone. I tried not to think about my dad knowing that I met a boy today—it was the last thing I wanted to think about. But oddly enough, I started thinking about Peter instead. I hoped I'd see him tomorrow, knowing at least one person at a new school always helped more than not knowing anyone at all. Even though I didn't know so much about Peter, it would be good just to see a familiar face.

Placing my phone and glasses on my nightstand and turning off the lamp, I slid under the covers and closed my eyes—waiting for sleep to overtake me into what I'd hope would be a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The sound of my alarm woke me up with a start, I was really not used to that sound anymore. I was about to hit the snooze button until the smell of poop reached my nose. Turning on the lamp next to me, I put on my glasses again and saw on the training pad a little ways away from my dog's sleeping area holding the source of the smell.

"Oh, Charlie, you went on the pad. Good, but not good to wake up to," I groaned sleepily, turning off my alarm and sitting up in bed.

I stretched a bit, groaning when I felt a few bones crack. I looked at Charlie and smiled when he ran over to me.

"Hey there boy." I scratched his head, smiling when I saw his little tail wag.

Slipping my feet into a pair of Ugg boots, I walked over to the training pad, wrapped it up and went to my personal bathroom where I tossed it into the trash bin. I walked over to the sink and started washing my hands; as I finished I looked in the mirror and saw the tangled mess of my hair. Groaning, I grabbed my brush and smoothed it down—the last thing I needed was for my hair to look like it hadn't been brushed for weeks. Once my hair was nice and straight again, I opened my medicine cabinet, grabbed the case that held my contact lenses and placed them on after I took off my glasses. It was sometimes annoying to wear them but it does help since I didn't really like wearing my glasses out in public. I continued with my morning routine: washing my face, brushing my teeth…just the things I needed to do. When I walked back to my room, I saw Charlie curled up in his bed again. It was a good thing that Pepper was going to take care of him for me today while I was at school until I got back, I'd hate for him to be in his crate all day while I was gone.

I looked in the mirror on my dresser and thought about what I was going to wear. Getting an idea, I went into my closet and pulled out a pair of black leggings, a fitted light gray long sleeved shirt, and a pair of black-heeled boots. I got dressed, did my makeup and actually waved out my hair for today—something I don't normally like to do for school. Once I was ready, I grabbed my messenger bag—full of new school supplies—my iPhone, a forest green coat and walked out with Charlie to the living room. As I entered the living room, the scent of coffee and waffles hit me, making my stomach growl.

"Man, that smells good," I commented as I placed Charlie in a playpen where all his toys were. I grabbed his bowls and walked to the kitchen.

"Thank you," Pepper said, near the waffle maker. "I made you your favorite: blueberry waffles."

"Thanks, Pepper," I smiled, replacing Charlie's food and water. I walked back and placed them on the floor, watching him eat his food.

I walked back to the dining room and saw Tony there. "Morning, Dad."

"Good morning," he said, not looking up from his phone and took a sip of his coffee.

"Okay…" I mouthed, taking a seat next to him as I poured myself a glass of orange juice and placed my messenger bag on the floor.

We normally never had breakfast together, I suppose how this is my first day at a new school Pepper wanted us to have something normal for once. However, I was wondering how long it would last. Real soon Pepper and Tony would get busy with work and then I would be by myself again in the mornings.

"Oh, honey, I never got a chance to say that your outfit for today is really nice," Pepper said, walking in and placed a huge stack of waffles on the table.

"Thanks," I said, lifting my fork to pick up a waffle.

"What? What is she wearing?" Tony looked up from his phone after that, looking in my direction and raised a brow. "What are you wearing?"

"Clothes." I made sure there was enough sarcasm in that one word.

"It looks like you're either going to hop on some random loser's motorcycle or pose for a new line of clothing for H&M," he commented.

"I'll take the H&M part as a complement but will glare at you for the previous one," I said, giving a tight smirk as I placed two waffles on my plate and took a sip of my orange juice.

He looked down under the table, no doubt checking out my boots. When sat up in his chair again, he asked. "Are you sure you can walk around in those heels today?"

"They're not stilettoes, Dad," I sighed. "The heel is only three inches and it's pretty thick, too. It's the size I would wear to work."

"Still think you should be in something else," he muttered, plating himself some food.

"I think she looks nice today, Tony," Pepper stated, coming to my defense. "Besides, it's not like she's dressing up in very minimal clothing like most girls her age."

"Thank you, Pepper," I smiled, pouring some syrup over my waffles and took a bite. The taste of the syrup and blueberries hitting my tongue. "These are really good."

"Specially made for you, honey." Pepper sat across from me, on Tony's right side.

We all ate in silence after that. Even if Tony attempted to deny Pepper's comment, she still had a point. I really was one of those girls that cared too much about my self-respect that I'd rather dress up in clothes I feel comfortable in than dressing like a slut. After a while, Pepper and Tony asked what my thoughts were about attending Midtown Science and I answered them by saying that I was nervous as hell and would rather hide under my covers all day.

"Well, it's too late for that. It's time for you to go," Tony said, wiping his mouth and downed the last of his coffee.

"What? Already?" I took out my cell and saw that I had forty minutes left until school started.

"Okay, we'll both go with you to the school so that way Happy can drop us off at the Tower after," Pepper announced, getting up from her seat and picked up the dishes.

"You guys want to drop me off?" I asked, usually it was just Pepper that would drop me off but now it's the both of them. _This day is already starting off with surprises._

"Of course, we want to see you off."

"Pepper, it's her first day of school, not her first day out at sea," Tony quipped, causing Pepper to roll her eyes at him.

"She knows what I meant." She grabbed her purse and this was the first time I noticed that they both were already dressed for work. Tony's face was free of stubble and he was actually dressed in a suit for work, and Pepper had a skirt, blouse and heels on.

I got up as well, picked up my bag, placed my phone in the pocket of my coat and was ready for what seemed to be a dreadful first day of school. We left the penthouse, went down the elevator and reached the lobby where we saw Happy having a serious discussion with the doorman.

"Happy, come on, we gotta go. Alison's going to be late and it'll be all Pepper's fault," Tony said, nodding to the doorman as he tipped his hat.

"How is it my fault? I didn't do anything other than make breakfast for your daughter," she countered, giving the doorman a friendly smile while I waved on my way out.

"Can we just get going? I need to pick up my schedule if I'd like to know where my classes are," I said and crossed my arms, really not looking forward to going back to the main office.

"Better do as she says, Happy, or else she won't have enough time to see her new boyfriend," Tony taunted, causing Pepper to elbow his side.

"Oh, my God, Dad!" I groaned, uncrossing my arms, slid into the car and hugged my bag to me as soon as I was situated.

"What? I'm just saying—"

"It's not something she wants to hear right now, Tony," Pepper scolded, sliding in after me.

_Yep, I'm definitely part of a normal family._

* * *

I was so glad as soon as I was out of the car and in the school. It wouldn't have taken so long if Pepper hadn't acted so much like a mom and stopped hugging me. Don't get me wrong, I love that she treats me like her own daughter but I didn't need her to hug me for nearly fifteen minutes. Thank goodness Tony and Happy were able to get her to let go and were able to wish me luck today as well. As I walked down the hall, I started feeling nervous; there were students _everywhere_ and it felt like every pair of eyes were on me. Good thing I never wore lip-gloss or lipstick, it would have sucked so much after biting my lip and the color was on my teeth. I kept walking until I reached the main office and spoke to the older brunette receptionist.

"Um, hi," I greeted nervously. "I'm new here and I need to pick up the schedule for my classes."

"Okay, and what is your name, honey?" she asked, brown eyes looking at her computer.

"Alison Stark." _Wait for it…_

"Oh! You're Tony Stark's daughter!" She gasped, excitement lighting her eyes. I was able to detect a Southern twang in her voice.

_There it is, that's what I was dreading to hear._ "Yep, that's me." I gave her a fake smile, the one I always wore whenever people began to talk about Tony or how amazing it must be for me being a Stark.

"Midtown Science is so glad to have you attend our little school instead of all the others here in New York," she gushed, completely kissing my ass about this. "You know, you look a lot younger in person than you do on TV and the papers."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," I muttered, trying not to tap my foot in irritation. Couldn't she just find my schedule already? I wanted to find my locker that they'd assigned me so I could practice the combination.

"Ah, here you are!" She nearly shouted, she hit a button—hopefully it was the print button.

"Do I get my locker here? I'm just curious because I'm not sure where to go for that," I said, hearing phones ring around in the office.

"Yes, let me go get the paper for you." She walked away and over to a filing cabinet. She pulled out a long paper and walked back to me, handing it over. "Here, sign your name where you're meant to sign and that'll let us know that you are assigned to this locker."

I nodded, grabbing the pen on the counter, I signed my name on the paper and handed it back to the receptionist. She tore off the longer portion of the paper and gave me the small part that held the locker number and combination. Reaching over to the printer behind her, she handed me my schedule as well.

"Oh wait, I must get you a map of the school just to help you navigate and find your way around here. And I'll also get you another paper, but this one will have the bell schedules on it so that way you can tell your daddy what times to come on over and pick you up." She ran back to the other side and grabbed a couple of papers and what looked like to be another.

I wasn't sure why she'd give me another one but I couldn't ponder on it any longer when she got back and handed everything to me. "Thanks for the map and bell schedule."

"You're welcome, and you are all set. Have a nice day, dear!" She gave me a cheery smile.

Suppressing an eye roll, I gave her a small smile and walked out. Looking down at the small square paper that held my locker number, I started searching for it. I was hoping that most of my classes were close enough together—would help me a lot with being on time. I guess you could say I was one of those students; I really did care about my attendance and my records too much to screw up in school. It was most likely because of my name; before Tony was kidnapped, he was just a serious party animal and goofed around too much. I knew I wasn't biologically his daughter but some people might have thought that I could still be like him since I grew up around the environment. However, they didn't know that Tony didn't actually want me seeing him like that—at least _that_ was responsible of him. Still, I suppose it's just something people would "predict" to happen for me.

I scoffed, _Yeah right._

As I continued walking, I began hearing the students around me whisper—no doubt they knew about me coming here. I glanced up a bit, looking through my lashes, I was able to make out some clusters of kids: jocks, drama/art kids, different groups of popular kids…this was definitely just a normal high school. But it seemed like no matter where I looked, I couldn't find tousled brown hair anywhere. I was really hoping I'd find Peter early this morning, just the thought of possibly not seeing him brought down my mood some. I continued walking until I bumped into someone, dropping my papers in the process.

I sighed, "Crap, I'm sorry, I should have paid attention." I knelt down and was starting to pick up my papers until the person I bumped into knelt down, too—noticing by the shoes that it was a boy.

"No, I'm sorry, I was the idiot to just stand around and…" His voice trailed off and I saw his hands pause slightly from my papers. "Alison?"

I looked up and saw him. "Peter! Oh my goodness, I really didn't see you there. I'm sorry. I was too preoccupied trying to find my locker and—"

"No, no, it's okay. I was busy looking at the pictures I just recently put on the board and didn't notice that someone could have been walking by here," he smiled a crooked smile and grabbed the last of my papers. "Here, let me help you up." He held his hand out for me.

I smiled, taking his hand. "Thanks."

He helped me up and let go of my hand. "Who knew we'd bump into each other again?"

"Yeah, but knowing me and my dumb luck I was bound to bump into people today," I said weakly, still hating that it happened.

Peter smiled and handed me the papers, glancing at them slightly. He had a confused look on his face. "Umm, not to be nosy or anything but why do you have a résumé with these papers?"

I blanched. "What?" I took the papers and saw the first one. "What the hell?! The receptionist in the office must have done that! If she thinks I can help her get a job at my dad's new building, she is mistaken." I grabbed the paper, crumbing it up into my bag to shred later after school.

"Does that happen a lot?" Peter asked, brows knitting together in confusing.

"Yes, unfortunately, and a lot more than I care to count," I sighed. "I swear, I'll never see the end of this until I'm done with school completely."

He looked at me, his brown eyes lighting up for a bit. "Hey, why don't I change the subject? Where's your locker? Maybe I can help you find it?"

I looked up at him, smiling. "Yeah. Thanks, that'll be very helpful of you, Peter."

I handed him my locker number; he took the little card and chuckled. "Well, looks like we're neighbors."

"Really?" I beamed, enjoying the idea of my locker being next to his. It would be so great knowing that I could still have someone I knew with me.

"Yeah, come on. I'll show you where it is." He handed back the card and started walking, with me following in step next to him. "But I must warn you, you might not really like it so much."

"What do you mean?" My brows furrowed in confusion and my head tilted to the side.

"You'll see when we get there." Was all he said.

_That's odd_, I mused. What could be so bad about our lockers? Were they next to the boys' bathroom or something?

We walked in silence, a couple more students stared us as we walked to our lockers. I wasn't sure how Peter could be so calm with everyone staring, I was having a hard time trying not to get closer to him or tell everyone off.

"Everyone's staring," I whispered, walking a bit closer to him so he could hear me.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he whispered his apology. "I guess not many people are used to seeing the outcast with a girl walking so close to him."

"'Outcast'?" I repeated, confused. _He's one of the outcasts of the school? I wouldn't have guessed._

"Yeah, but I'm used to it. Although, I'm still not used to the idea of the school's star basketball player being one of my friends." We rounded a corner, continuing onto a different hallway. "I guess that started helping me being seen by a few more people."

I thought about that, remembering back to my old school where I felt like an outcast myself, except everyone thought they were my friends when I knew better. They only wanted to be friends with me because my father had money and power, and I hated that many people believed that I could just trust anyone.

"Don't worry, I sort of know the feeling," I mumbled, glancing up at him. No matter how glad I was to have heels on my boots, I still had to look up at Peter—it seemed like it made little difference.

He looked at me, about to say something until he looked ahead and sighed. "Well, we're here."

I looked ahead as well; seeing a couple making out and pressed against two lockers. I arched a brow. _That was the reason? Couldn't he just ask them to move?_

Peter took in my expression and sighed, "Watch." He went over to the couple, trying to explain to them that he had to get to his locker but they just ignored him.

I watched as the guy gently shoved his girlfriend against the locker, causing her to giggle. I grimaced, walked over to them. The sound of my heels hitting against the linoleum was what made them break away from each other. Peter's eyes widened a bit, shocked that I was able to actually break them apart.

I offered them a friendly smile and said, "Hi, sorry to bother you guys, but my friend and I would like to get to our lockers."

"And why would we listen to you?" The blonde girl glared at me, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Look, I know you two are very much in lust with each other but we need to get to our lockers and would appreciate it if you went somewhere else." I kept my smile in place but used my eyes to glare daggers at her.

She shifted a bit, no doubt taking in my eyes, and was about to say something else until the boy with the dirty blond hair stopped her. "Babe, wait, do you know who she is?" She gave him the "does it look like I know?" look. "That's Tony Stark's daughter," he whispered a bit loudly, causing me to mentally roll my eyes.

The blonde girl looked at me again, eyes widening. "Oh shit, I'm sorry. I didn't know that this is where your locker was. We'll go somewhere else." She picked up her backpack, the boy did the same thing, and they walked away.

"Hmm, that was easier than I thought," I mused, looking down at my card as I walked over to my locker, and tested the combination. I smiled when I opened it and looked at Peter, who was still shocked. I couldn't help but chuckle. "What?"

"I have been trying to break those two apart and away from my locker for _months_." He stressed on the word. "It only took you two minutes."

"Being a Stark helped, that's for sure," I shrugged, watching him walk over to his locker and opened it up.

"Well, I can't think up a good way of thanking you for that," he chuckled, taking out a book and placing his skateboard inside his locker.

"How about you show me the way to my classes?" I smiled, glancing at my locker and grimaced a bit at the amount of dust that was in it. Pulling out a few sanitary wipes that I brought with me to school, I began wiping away at the dust.

Peter chuckled as he watched me clean, nodding. "Sure, I'll be more than happy to be your tour guide for today. Let me see what classes you have." I handed him my schedule and finished cleaning my locker. "Huh, looks like we got most of the same classes together."

"Really?" My voice couldn't contain my excitement. "That's perfect!"

"Well, four out of six classes we have together." He looked at me, watching for my reaction to it.

"Which ones?" I asked, looking at my schedule for the first time, seeing my classes.

"Your second period Spanish class and fourth period where you're the service worker for a class," he said, handing me back the paper. "But other than that we have first, third, fifth and sixth period together."

Looking at the classes, I saw that they were Honors English, AP calculus, Honors U.S. government, and AP biology. I nodded, thinking that it wouldn't seem so bad to have four classes with him.

"But, there's some good news," he added, catching my attention as I looked up at him.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"The two classes you don't have with me, are pretty close to mine," he smiled.

"Really? That's great, you can still show me around the school then." A bell rang, drawing our attention and lots of students around us were getting ready for their first class.

"Come on, let's go to first period." He slipped an arm through a strap of his backpack, adjusting it on his shoulder and closed his locker.

I closed mine as well, fixed the strap to my messenger bag and followed him to first period English. The classroom wasn't that far from the lockers, which was good; I was feeling nervous again and hated not having any textbooks. Hopefully when I meet my teachers they'd give them to me.

Peter stood to the side, motioning for me to enter the classroom first. I entered and stood by, watching Peter enter. He walked over to the desk in the front and attracted the attention of the teacher behind it. "Hi, Ms. Ritter."

"Peter, you're actually on time today," she exclaimed, appearing to be shocked. "That's excellent."

I tried to hold back my smile, amused that I was starting to become friends with the "bad boy."

"Yeah, uh, I brought the new student with me." He inclined his head in my direction, causing her to look over my way.

"Oh, you're the new student." She rose from her seat, standing up straight. "Welcome to Honors English, I'm Ms. Ritter."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," I greeted, walking over. "I'm Alison Stark. Umm, here's my schedule. You know, so you can sign it." I handed her the paper, feeling my heart hammer against my chest. Damn, my nerves.

"Of course." Ms. Ritter took the paper, looking it over. "Ah, lots of Honors and AP classes, that's very good." She smiled at me and looked at Peter. "Mr. Parker, why don't you take a seat and I'll have everything settled here with Miss Stark."

"Sure," he nodded, giving me one last smile as he walked to the back of the class.

I watched him leave, kind of wishing he were up here with me. I was never really good when it came to talking to teachers, there was just something that was so intimidating about them—not as much as certain agents at S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ms. Ritter gave me a copy of her class's syllabus, needing a signature from Tony to earn credit in her class. She assigned me a class book but told me to make sure to get one for home at the bookroom. When she was finished, with the rest of the students entering the class, the final bell rang and she turned to the class.

"Okay, class. We have a new student with us." Ms. Ritter earned everyone's attention and I tensed. "This is Alison Stark, all the way from Los Angeles, and she'll be finishing up her senior year here at Midtown Science." She looked to me, smiling. "Now, Alison, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself."

I paled, trying to come up with something. What _can_ I say that wouldn't make me seem strange to everyone?

"Umm, hi. I'm Alison," I said nervously, biting my lip. "I'm seventeen-years-old, my dad is Tony Stark and I love…books."

I kept my eyes trained on the back of the room and saw that Peter's shoulders were shaking, laughing to himself about this. Everyone else in the room just stared at me, almost as if not sure what to say about me.

"Well, Alison, that's…interesting," Ms. Ritter cleared her throat. "Why don't you take that empty seat right next to Mr. Parker and we'll begin with today's lesson."

I nodded, walking down the rows of desks until I reached the empty one on Peter's right. I sat down, placing my bag on the desk and glared at Peter. He looked at me; his brown eyes lit up with amusement and struggled not to smile.

"That was not funny!" I hissed, causing him to quietly laugh some more. "You try coming up with something up there, that was humiliating." I crossed my legs.

"Sorry," he cleared his throat, a smile ghosting his lips. "Hopefully the other teachers won't do it."

"God, I hope not," I muttered, taking out a notebook and a pencil. "Because if you're laughing again, Peter Parker, there'll be hell to pay."

"Sure thing, Alison," he chuckled.

I was about to respond until Ms. Ritter's voice caught my attention. "Now, class, let's get started on this week's assignment. So, who has read…"

* * *

Despite everything that happened in the morning, the rest of my classes went pretty well. My second period Spanish teacher, Mrs. Marquez, didn't put me through what Ms. Ritter did in English; third period AP calculus with Mr. Cooper was…interesting—at least I was able to work with Peter without wanting to tear my hair out thanks to our obnoxious teacher. Fourth period was awesome, being the teacher's assistant for the school's library was so much fun and all the time I was reading so many different books. I was even ecstatic finding out that the bookroom and library were in the same place and was able to get all my books before I even met my other two teachers—which also helped since I did the homework I was supposed to do tonight for the classes I've already attended. After fourth I had lunch with Peter, of course a couple of other kids would come over to where we were sitting and spoke to me but I couldn't really pay much attention to them—especially when a couple of jocks were attempting to flirt. They were immediately turned down, I really wasn't interested in any of that and wanted the school day to end already. In fifth period Honors U.S. government, the teacher showed us a movie—he didn't really want to start anything, which I was fine with. And now, as we were finishing up AP biology, I looked to Peter, watching him take notes. It was great knowing that there was someone who was just as much of a bookworm as I was when it came to school. He may look like an outcast, but I could tell that Peter was really smart.

The final bell rang; every student rushed to put away their things and were leaving the class. I put away everything myself and picked up my textbook, waiting for Peter to get up as well. When he did, we walked out of the classroom, and walked back to our lockers. He looked like he was busy thinking about something, being a bit quiet compared to how much we talked in our previous classes. Once we reached the lockers, I opened mine; making sure to put away the things I didn't need and grabbed what I needed for my biology homework tonight. I really wasn't looking forward to doing the work since I had to go out and look for Spider-Man but I made a promise to Tony and Pepper that I'd continue and finish my education.

"Alison?" Peter said my name a bit quietly.

I looked up from my bag, seeing him against the locker. "Yes?"

"I was wondering, do you want to hang out at my house today?" he asked, he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Today?" I'm actually invited to a friend's house? That was something I wasn't entirely used to, especially when there were times where I knew I couldn't—like today for example. _But then again…_

"If you're interested in coming. I'll understand if you have anything better to do," he said, messing around with his camera.

"Umm, I'll have to ask but I'm sure they'll be happy about me being at a friend's place." I just gotta make sure that Pepper doesn't tell Tony that I was going to a boy's house.

"Really?" His brown eyes looked hopeful.

"Yeah, I'd love to go to your house, Peter," I smiled, closing my locker.

"That's great, let's go." He slung his camera over his shoulder, grabbed his skateboard and we both walked out to the school's main entrance.

When we were out, I texted Pepper, letting her know that I was going to be home later. Hopefully that'd give Tony the impression that I was out doing what I had to do for S.H.I.E.L.D. and he wouldn't be suspicious of Peter. I looked up ahead and saw Happy parked right in front of the school's entrance.

Biting my lip, I looked up at Peter. "Umm, do you mind us getting dropped off there? My dad's chauffer is here."

His brows furrowed, I inclined my head in Happy's direction and he looked—eyes widening a bit. "Uh, yeah. If you feel comfortable that way."

"It's just that he'll tell my dad and last thing I want is for him to call the NYPD," I half lied, pleading with my eyes.

Peter nodded, giving in. "Sure, we'll have your driver drop us off there."

"Thank you, Peter!" I gave him a quick hug and led him over to Happy.

Happy got out of the car and did a double take when he saw me walking with Peter. When Happy reached the sidewalk, Peter and I stopped in front of him.

"Hi, Happy!" I smiled, enjoying the disbelieving look on his face.

"Alison," he nodded, taking his eyes off Peter for a second.

"This is my friend Peter Parker. Do you think you can give us a ride to his place?" I asked, not losing my smile.

Happy looked at Peter and he shifted a bit nervously. "And what will happen there?"

"Uh, homework…maybe play videogames?" Peter was really nervous by Happy, and this was nothing compared to what would happen if Tony met him.

"Please, Happy? I rarely go out and would love to hang out with a friend today," I pouted, convincing him as best I could.

Happy sighed, "Fine, I'll drop you both off at his place." He opened the door to the back passenger seats.

"Thanks, Happy," I smiled, giving him a smug look as I slid in.

After Peter got on, Happy closed the door and walked over to the driver's side. I sat back, waited patiently as we drove away from the school, and was looking forward to actually hanging out at a friend's house. However, there was a tiny voice in the back of my head annoyingly saying the same thing over and over again. _Please don't let Tony find out about this._

* * *

**Author's Note: I must say, this was a _really_ long chapter. Probably the longest I might write for this story but I might end up writing another long one. I hope you all enjoyed it, I'm halfway finished with the third chapter and will have it up after a couple of reviews. ****So make sure to do that, they do make my day and I will upload as soon as I can—hopefully before I go back to school. Also, let me know if you guys like the long chapters and I can continue working on them, or if you felt like this dragged on then I'll be sure to be careful for the next chapter. Again, thank you so much, and see you for the next chapter! :D**


	3. Evening With the Parkers

**Author's Note: I am very glad you all enjoyed the previous chapter! I'll admit I had fun writing it. I must confess this though: I just started my spring semester of school and with how my schedule is, I probably won't be able to update as often as I'd like thanks to having the classes that I have. Hopefully, if I finish my work on time, I'll write as much as I can and try to update as much as possible. So please try to bear with me while I'm in school. So, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it may come off as a filler chapter to some of you but I feel like it'll go with the story. So please read and enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _The Amazing Spider-Man_, _Iron Man_ or anything else. It is all owned by Marvel and Sony.**

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**Evening With the Parkers**

The drive to Peter's house was very interesting. No matter how many times Happy tried to intimidate Peter, I shot everything down and got nothing but annoyed glances from Happy in the rearview mirror. I knew I was getting that bodyguard attitude from him because of what I was doing, but he had to see that there was nothing wrong with me wanting to spend time with a friend. And the same should go for my father as well. Peter slowly got comfortable around Happy once he began to speak in a more civilized tone to Peter, the mood changed to a much friendlier environment. It seemed like with Peter it helped break Happy away from the bodyguard/chauffer attitude he got half of the time. What I seemed to enjoy the most was viewing the different areas of the city. Since Peter lived a bit away from the city, it was nice to see some actual houses instead of apartments. Everything was so different from where I was living; Pepper and Tony chose a pretty high-end building but Tony picked the school for me to attend—which was a bit further away from the building. But right now, I didn't care about distance. I just loved looking out the window and seeing everything.

Once we reached Peter's house, I took in everything about it. The house had a brick exterior, with four steps that led up to a porch and the entrance to the house. On the left side was a small white fence with two white pillars and on the right was a small brick barrier with one white pillar. The windows were big and wide with white trimming, and along the walkway were pots of flowers and plants. Everything about the house was cute and I found myself smiling at all of it.

Peter raised a brow at me. "I'm guessing you like my house?"

"It's so cute!" My smile widened, looking at him. "I would love a house like this. It's so different from mansions and Malibu beach houses—let me have this moment?" I gave him a pleading look.

He chuckled and nodded. "All right, I'll give you this one, rich kid," he smirked.

"Ha-ha, you're hilarious," I said sarcastically, shoving him playfully, and tried to hold back a smile.

The clearing of a throat drew our attentions back to the car, where a nervous Happy stood. I glanced at Peter, giving him a small smile and walked over to Happy.

When I was close enough, Happy spoke in a quiet tone. "You do realize that your dad will destroy Times Square once he finds out that you're at a boy's house."

"Happy, everything will be fine," I said with such certainty that it surprises myself. "Tony will not find out and everything in New York will be safe from him and his suit."

"I highly doubt that, Alison," he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb, and closed his eyes.

I bit the inside of my lip, thinking. "Happy, didn't you of all people tell Tony that I should be a normal teenager for once and try to live a normal life?"

His eyes opened, looking at me as he dropped his hand with a sigh. "Yes, I did tell him that."

"Then can you please give me this?" I asked, nearly begging. "I never get the chance to spend time at a friend's house because Tony would rather have me invite someone to our place. Can I please have something normal in my life?"

Happy nodded, finally giving in. "All right. Have your normality for just this once. But when the boss finds out, what am I supposed to say?"

I lowered my voice a bit more, being very careful that Peter doesn't hear me. "He knows that I have an assignment for S.H.I.E.L.D. If I'm lucky, he'll think I'm already working because I always tend to do my homework at school to give me a free-ish night."

"Fine." He shifted, standing up straighter and spoke at a normal volume for Peter to hear. "Enjoy yourself here, Miss Stark."

I rolled my eyes, he knew I hated when he did that. "Fine, Mr. Hogan. And don't worry—things will be fine here. Peter even said that his aunt is here to supervise everything."

"Okay." He looked at Peter, giving him a small nod. "It was nice meeting you and I hope you have a good day. Oh, and make sure that this one." He points to me. "Doesn't end up biting people because that's what she does when she doesn't get what she wants."

I gaped, glaring at the grinning man.

Peter laughed nervously, nodding. "Sure, I'll keep an eye on her."

Happy, with his grin still plastered on his face, walked back to the car, got in and drove away.

I still glared at the car, in serious disbelief that he said that. Looking to Peter, I said, "What he said is _so_ not true."

"It seems like ribbing is something that goes on a lot in your household." He stated rather than questioned.

"You have no idea," I sighed. "Well, to forget that, let's just head inside before Happy does a U-turn and I'll probably toss something at him."

"Serious?" He raised his brows in shock. When he saw my "I'm dead serious face," he got his answer.

Nodding, he turned on his heel and began walking up the steps. I followed after him, looking at the little furniture on the porch—I really loved this house. It was the type of house I would have loved growing up in. I was pretty sure if my mother were still alive it would have happened. My heart clenched at the thought, I hardly ever thought about her and I couldn't break down here in front of Peter. I slowly began thinking of happy thoughts, something Pepper helped me with whenever I was upset for my mom. _Okay, think about Charlie. Think about fighting with Dad about Charlie peeing on the Iron Man suit. Think about having fun with Peter._ That one surprised me. I froze for a bit, still shocked that I thought that and how well that helped me.

Peter, who had his hand on the knob and put a key away, looked at me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I answered, thinking up something to say. "I…I just thought that…m-maybe I left my phone in the car but I…have it in my pocket right here." I pointed to the coat I had in my arms.

"Are you sure?" he asked, concern marring his features.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's kind of important now in case Pepper were to call me and she'll worry about me not having it."

He still seemed uncertain but nodded and opened the door. "Go ahead."

I entered and saw a set of stairs in front of me that lend up to the second floor. When I looked to my right, I saw the living room where a woman wearing a floral skirt, pink sweater and slippers was rearranging the throw pillows on the couch. There was no doubt that this was Peter's aunt and she had no idea we were here.

"Aunt May, I'm home," Peter called, walking over to me after he finished closing the door.

"Hello, Peter." She straightened up and turned around. "How was…" She trailed off, catching sight of me standing next to him.

I smiled nervously, giving her a small wave before looking up to Peter.

He cleared his throat, looking at his aunt. "Aunt May, this is a new friend of mine from school, Alison. And, Alison, this is my aunt May."

"Oh, hello, dear," she said, coming up to me, offering her hand.

"Hello, Mrs. Parker," I said, still feeling quite nervous as I shook her hand.

"I'm sorry if it was short notice, Aunt May," Peter apologized when we finished. "Alison's new at school and I thought it would be all right if she hung here for a bit."

"It's okay, Peter. Any friend you invite is fine by me." She smiled at him warmly, reminding me so much of how Pepper smiled at me.

"You have a very lovely home here, Mrs. Parker," I said, feeling my nerves calm down as I looked around.

"Thank you, dear," she smiled. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Umm, a water. Please?"

"Of course." She turned her attention to Peter. "Peter?"

"I'm fine." He slipped his backpack off his shoulder.

"Okay." She looked back in my direction. "Make yourself comfortable and sit wherever you'd like, I'll be back." She walked passed us, heading to the left where I assumed was the kitchen.

Peter motioned for me to enter the living room, and when I did, I looked around everywhere as I sat down on the couch. I felt a bit bad that I was sitting on it since Peter's aunt was picking up. Peter placed his both his backpack and skateboard on the floor next to the couch and sat down next to me.

"So is my house still cute?" he asked, a teasing tone in his voice.

"Yes," I smiled, looking around until a picture near me caught my attention.

I got up and walked over to get a better look. It was a picture of a little boy with a mop of brown hair and brown eyes, smiling happily with two teeth missing.

"Oh, that's Peter when he was five," Peter's aunt said, causing me to turn around and look at her.

She handed me a glass of water and I looked back to the picture. "That's him when he was five? Oh, he looks so cute here!"

"I know," she gushed, looking at Peter fondly as he flushed red. "His hair used to fall into his eyes and then he'd throw a tantrum whenever I had to take him to get it cut."

I giggled, taking a sip of my water. "I love the smile with the missing teeth, and his cheeks look soft and squishy."

She smiled, nodding. "Whenever someone tried to pinch them, he would get so mad." Laughing lightly from the memory of it.

"Aww," I laughed quietly, walking back to where I was on the couch next to Peter—still red with embarrassment.

"You guys realize that I'm right here, right?" he asked, running his hand through his already tousled brown hair.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Mrs. Parker apologized to him. "Can you blame us for liking that picture?"

"Yeah, so please relax, Peter." I took another sip of my water, placing my coat in my lap.

"If you'd like, Alison, I can hang that up on the coat rack," she offered, walking over to us.

"Umm, sure. Just let me take out my phone." I handed Peter my water, searched my pockets until I found my phone, and handed my coat to Mrs. Parker.

She took it and looked to Peter. "I'm going to get dinner started, are you two going to be down here?"

"I was actually thinking we'd go up to my room, if that's all right with you?" Peter asked, looking nervously at his aunt. "I'll make sure the door is kept open."

"Okay, but make sure that it is, Peter." She raised her brows at him, making sure he understood her. "I'll check on you two when I'm finished."

"Okay. What are we having?" He handed me my water, getting up to get his things.

"Meatloaf," she answered and looked my way. "Will you be staying with us, Alison?"

"I would love to, Mrs. Parker," I smiled. "Just let me call my dad's girlfriend first."

She seemed surprised when I said that and nodded. "Okay. Umm, you two go do what you're going to do and make sure you put that skateboard away, Peter."

"Yes, Aunt May," he nodded, grabbing his things.

I got up with my messenger bag; Peter led us out of the living room and we went up the stairs. When we reached the second floor, I said, "I like your aunt. She reminds me of Pepper."

"Thanks. I think my aunt might like you as well," he said, smiling. "You two hit it off pretty well."

"I hope so," I mumbled. "I'd hate to get on someone's bad side."

"No, you're fine," he shook his head. He walked over to a door and was about to open the door until he stopped and looked my way as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Do you think you can wait out here for a minute? I kind of need to pick up a bit."

My brows furrowed a bit, but nodded. "Sure, go ahead."

"All right." He opened the door just enough for him to slip through and looked back to me. "Just one minute."

I chuckled and nodded. He closed the door and I was able to hear him move around quickly from the other side. I smiled; amused that he was actually cleaning his room because of me. While I waited, I looked around the hall, and looked at the things that were around—like the pictures that hung on the wall. It just fascinated me at how many there were of Peter when he was little. There was still very little I knew about him but he had told me that he has lived with his aunt and recently deceased uncle ever since he was four. Peter said something happened to his parents that caused them to leave him with them but then later died in a plane crash. I could sympathize with Peter on that; my actual father died when I was a baby and my mother was killed in a car accident when I was eight. It seemed like loss was a major factor between us except he was taken in by family and I was adopted by Tony Stark.

"Okay, I'm finished and it's safe to go in," Peter announced, opening the door to show me his room.

"You make it sound like you're hiding something in here," I joked, walking in.

"Me? Hide something?" he repeated, his brow raised. "I would never hide anything."

I thought over how he said that; could he be hiding something from me? That didn't really seem possible but I of all people knew what it was like to have secrets. No one outside my family knew that I was an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. and I made sure to keep it at that.

Shrugging, I said, "Everyone has secrets. It just depends who you trust to tell them to."

His brows creased, possibly thinking over what I said. He shrugged as well. "I suppose. I mean, you do know a thing or two about secrets because of your dad, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Thanks to him…I know a lot about when it comes to keeping secrets," I agreed, slightly worried for a second. _For a moment I thought it was something else._

I caught something shift in his eyes, hopefully he didn't try to think any of what I had said.

Peter cleared his throat, shifting a bit. "So, you can sit anywhere. My bed, the chair…wherever you feel comfortable."

I chuckled quietly, walking over to his bed and sat down—placing my bag, the glass of water on the floor, and my phone next to me. "I take it that you're not used to having a girl in your room?"

"Wh-what makes you say that?" he asked, laughing nervously.

"Your nervous behavior, for one," I smiled, laughing quietly. "It's fine. It's a little different for me to be alone with a boy in his room, too."

"Your dad doesn't really let you out much, does he?" he questioned, sitting in the computer chair across from me.

Shrugging, I answered. "He does…but there's some limitations." Tony could actually just let me be out as long as I wanted but it seemed like it was mostly for the days I had to do missions or when I was with Pepper. Never just for the fun of it.

"Limitations? Like what exactly?"

"Well, if Pepper's with me…" I trailed off, thinking about other times. "When I went to the mall or other stores by myself…after Happy dropped me off. And that's it."

"Really?" It was obvious that he couldn't believe that. I supposed everyone believed that Tony was the type of irresponsible parent that always let me out and didn't care.

_If they only knew_, I mused. "Yeah. Trust me, Tony Stark is a very protective father; even if he comes off as standoffish or couldn't really care about anything—that's not how he is. He's been there for me since I was eight-years-old. I may sometimes hate that he's like that but I'm glad to have someone like him in my life."

Peter nodded, thinking over something and smiled sadly. "He's always there for you, right?"

It was my turn to nod.

"In a way, he reminds me of my uncle Ben." His face was downcast and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at his shoes.

"Hey, it's all right," I said softly, placing my hand on top of his free one. "I know how hard it is to talk or even think about someone that's gone. Believe me, I can't go a couple of minutes without crying after I think about my mom."

He held onto my hand and lifted his face up slightly, deep-chocolate brown eyes looking into my blue ones.

"Is that why you were upset earlier? You were thinking about your mom?" he asked, his voice a little low but perfectly clear for me to hear.

I nodded weakly and whispered. "Yeah."

Peter's eyes still stared into mine and I knew we were just friends but I couldn't stop myself from getting lost in them. There was just something about them that I couldn't really read; there was something about Peter Parker that I didn't know and I wouldn't mind figuring out.

The sound of my cell phone's ringtone drew me back and away from Peter's eyes. Letting go of his hand, I laughed weakly and said, "Sorry. I need to take this."

"Sure, go ahead," he cleared his throat and nodded, sitting up straighter in his sit.

I picked up my phone and answered. "Hello?"

"Hi, Alison. How is everything going?" Pepper's voice came from the other side, smile in her voice.

"Great, everything is fine here," I said, shrugging but grimaced as I thought it was dumb to do since she couldn't see it. "How's everything at work?"

"Fine. I just wanted to let you know I had Happy bring Charlie over here to be with me but real soon he's going to take the little guy back home."

"Was Dad okay with that?" I asked, biting my lip and stood up from Peter's bed.

"You know your father, he hated the idea of it but knows you'll give him a piece of your mind about that," she chuckled. "So, I was curious, what time are you going to be home so we can figure out what to have for dinner?"

"Actually Peter's aunt asked if I wanted to stay for dinner and I said yes but was wondering what you think about that?" I was still biting my lip after asking as I walked over to where Peter had a couple of skateboards on his wall. I didn't want Tony to find out and come here to take me back.

"Well, I don't see anything wrong with that," she said. "And don't worry about your father, I'll keep him busy from even realizing you're with Peter."

"For some reason, I don't think that answer was something I wanted to hear," I shuddered slightly. The thought of my dad and sort of mother being intimate was something I really didn't want to think about.

"Very funny, Miss Smarty," Pepper commented, sarcasm evident in her tone. "Well, have fun tonight, sweetie. Be safe, behave, and make sure you're back after—as in before you go out tonight."

"Yes, ma'am," I answered.

"Okay, bye, sweetie. Take care and say hi to your friend for me," she said.

I smiled; delighted that Pepper was great about my friendship with Peter so far. "All right, I will. Bye." I heard her end cut off and hung up. I looked at Peter, smiling. "Pepper says hi."

"Yeah?" he smiled. When I nodded, he chuckled lightly. "Glad to know she likes me already. She seems different than your dad."

"From what I've told you, yes. However, there are times where she can be protective of me…just not as much as him." I walked back to his bed and sat down. "She's definitely another mom to me."

"So, I have a question." He sat a bit closer to me, certainly getting my attention.

"Okay. Shoot." I watched him carefully; curious as to what he wanted to ask.

"Why did you shudder a while ago?" he asked, brow raised with curiosity.

"Oh, God, that," I laughed nervously and shook my head. "Yeah, umm, Pepper said that she'd keep Tony busy while I'm here and, sadly, my mind processed that in a suggestive tone."

Peter laughed, his face breaking out in a wide smile. "Wow, who knew that Alison Stark could be such a perv?"

"Hey, hey, hey, it wasn't my fault!" I felt my face flush with embarrassment. "Listen to me when I say I don't think of anything like that at all. It just happened and-and…I'm not sure how to answer that."

He laughed again, causing me to grumble.

"That's not funny, Peter," I groaned, kicking his foot weakly with my own.

"Sorry, it's just…amusing that you actually thought that," he chuckled, struggling not to grin.

"Well, I'm glad I amused you," I muttered sarcastically.

"Okay. Okay," he cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "See, I stopped."

I watched him carefully, seeing that he was finished. Nodding, I said, "Seems like we both got our embarrassing moments today."

"You got that right," he chuckled, giving me that smile I was getting used to seeing.

"So…" I trailed off, thinking back to when we were at the school and what he had told Happy. "You weren't serious, were you?"

"About what?" he asked, confused by my question.

"About us doing our homework together?" I bit my lip. "Seemed like a good thing to tell Happy but I kind of already did mine at school."

"Oh, that," he waved it off. "I just said that because it was the first thing that popped into my head at the time. Plus, I really wouldn't have known that you did do it while we were at school."

"Well, I was in the library and thought it seemed like a good idea to do," I shrugged. "Homework's just easy for me to finish."

Peter nodded, understanding my point. "Yeah. I know what you mean."

We stayed silent for a bit until Peter began asking me questions about my family and me. He seemed curious about my life, which would normally annoy me, but it was different with him. I knew I was able to trust him and that made everything easy between us. It seemed like no matter what I would tell him, even if I ever decide to tell him about my life as an agent, I knew he could keep it a secret. In a way, I was glad to have met him and knew that he'd always be a great friend for me. I was nervous if Tony ever met him or knew of this, but with Pepper by my side, I was certain that she'd keep him from hurting Peter.

After what seemed like hours, we kept talking until I began telling him about my puppy and told him all the funny moments I have had with him and Tony.

"He picks on your dog?" he chuckled, surprised by this.

"Yes! It's sometimes sad but I can't help myself from laughing whenever it happens," I laughed. "Charlie just looks at him with these big adorable eyes and Tony will call him things like 'mutt' or 'runt,' and I have to defend the little guy."

"Man, that's awful but I can see how you can laugh at that."

"You're telling me. Although, I know at some point, my dad will grow to love Charlie—even though I know for sure he won't admit it."

"Peter?" The sound of Mrs. Parker's voice drew our attention to the door and we saw her standing by the frame. "Dinner's ready."

"Okay. We'll be down in a minute, Aunt May," he replied.

"Okay," she smiled and left.

Peter looked back to me, smiling. "Ready to head down?"

I nodded, grabbing my phone and stood up. Peter stood up as well and we both went downstairs.

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**Author's Note: So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I originally had planned for it to be longer; however, I felt like the flow of it wasn't going the way I would have liked for it to go and I didn't want it to seem like it was dragging on for you guys. But, I hope you liked it anyway and please make sure to review and favor and follow this story. I'm about half-way finished with the fourth chapter but as I've said I'm in school, it'll take a while for me to finish and update. But please review and do all that other stuff and I'll see you all for the next chapter! :)**


	4. Spider Hunting

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! I'm glad you enjoyed that little filler chapter I wrote. This chapter was originally supposed to be part of that but as I have said before, I felt like the flow of it didn't fit and I honestly won't post something I feel might drag on and bore you guys. Unless you found it to be that way in the previous chapter, then I'm sorry. But for those that didn't, thank you so much for the reviews and here is the new chapter. It's slightly long and as you can see from the title, Spider-Man will finally make an appearance. So, I hope you enjoy and please make sure to review after you read this chapter. :)**

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own anything relating to _The Amazing Spider-Man_, _Iron Man_ or anything else that I use in this chapter since they are owned by Sony and Marvel and other companies. I only have ownership/rights to Alison...but not her last name.**

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**Spider Hunting**

"Thank you again for having me over, Mrs. Parker," I said, readjusting the strap of my messenger bag and finished buttoning up my coat.

"You're welcome, Alison. It was great having you over tonight," she said, pulling me into a hug.

I hugged her back, catching sight of Peter over her shoulder and saw him give me that adorable crooked smile. When she pulled away, I smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer, though. My dad needs me home since it's a school night."

"Don't worry. It's perfectly understandable," Mrs. Parker assured, smiling. "Maybe next time you and your family would like to have dinner here. Once everything is settled for them, of course."

"My father and Pepper would be happy to have that," I smiled, pondering over the idea of my dad and Pepper meeting Peter and his aunt.

"I'll go walk her out to the car, Aunt May," Peter said, glancing out through the glass of the door and saw the black car parked in front.

"Okay, sweetheart," she nodded, turning her attention to Peter and back to me. "Now, I hope you and your driver have a safe drive back. And it was very nice meeting you, Alison."

"Thank you, Mrs. Parker. Have a good evening," I waved and smiled, walking over to Peter.

He held the door open for me and I walked out with him following after. When we were outside, I felt the late autumn air hit my cheeks and was glad I had my coat on. I didn't see Happy get out of the car, which meant he was probably preoccupied by something. We walked until we were a couple of feet away from the car and I stood next to Peter, watching him shift around where he was standing.

"So…" I trailed off, not sure what to say.

"So…" he repeated, chuckling quietly. "I guess it's time for us to say bye."

"Yeah," I nodded, not really looking forward to leaving.

_But I have to go look for Spider-Man_, I reminded myself. Fury gave me a job and I had to do it.

I cleared my throat and hugged Peter. "Bye, Peter. I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Alison." He hugged me back, his arms wrapped around me carefully but securely—almost as if I was really fragile.

That struck me as pretty odd, I was never seen as the delicate type but maybe with Peter I was. When we pulled away, I smiled and walked over to the car. I didn't notice when Happy got out of the car but I saw him standing there with the back passenger door open for me. I glanced back at Peter one last time, smiling over my shoulder and slid in. Happy closed the door, and I was able to see him walk around to the driver's side. I was still looking at Peter as he stared at the car with a thoughtful expression on his face. My brows furrowed a bit, curious as to what could be going through his head.

The sound of the car's engine drew me back and I saw that we were pulling away from Peter's house—his form becoming smaller as we continued down the street.

"So, how was it?" Happy asked, trying to start some friendly conversation.

"It was great, actually," I answered. "We just hung out and his aunt made dinner."

"Did you guys do what the kid said you'd do?" He glanced at me through the rearview mirror before he looked back at the road.

"No, we just hung out and talked in his room. And then after that, we had dinner with his aunt."

"You were in his room?!" Happy turned around in his seat to look at me but swerved; nearly losing control of the car and was honked at by other drivers. He regained control of the car and swore under his breath.

"God, Happy, watch the road!" I exclaimed, hating whenever he did that. "It's worse here than it was back in LA."

"I'm sorry about that but when the hell did you decide to be alone with a boy in his room?" he asked, still shocked by that—no matter how unnecessary it was.

"His aunt was busy making dinner and she was fine with it as long as he had the door open—which he made sure to do," I explained. "It was no big deal, Happy. Peter even said that he wasn't fully used to having a girl in his room?"

"Then why were you there in the first place?" he questioned, making sure to keep a close watch on the road this time instead of me.

"Because we're teenagers and that's what teenagers sometimes do. Relax," I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Geez, I get more crap from Tony about this than you. Why make it out to be such a big deal?"

"Your father, who is my _boss_." He made sure to put more emphasis on the word. "Will find out about this and he'll have me fired for even taking you to be with this kid!"

"That won't happen, Happy. Tony likes you too much and isn't willing to get rid of you." I took my phone out, checking to see if I had any messages from either Pepper or Tony. "And Pepper said that she'd keep him distracted—making sure that he wouldn't find out."

"If he even hears one little word about you being in a room with a boy, he'll go after both me and the kid."

I tilted my head to the side, confused. "Wait, why would he go after you? I mean, with Peter it might be understandable…but you?"

"I was the one who dropped you off at his house, Alison!" he exclaimed. "He'll learn about where the kid lives and possibly torture me in the process."

I sighed and shook my head. "Okay, Happy, stop being over dramatic and listen to your relaxing CD so you can get us safely home." I picked up a CD folder from under the seat in front of me, opened it up and pulled out the one marked _RELAX, HAPPY_ in big red letters.

I handed him the disc, which he slid into the CD player and the sound of reggae music filled the car.

"I still don't get why you chose Bob Marley in this CD—not that there's anything wrong with him," Happy muttered, resulting with me kicking his seat.

"Listen to the music," I said, sitting back comfortably.

"I don't want to listen to my relaxing CD since I know it won't help me too much right now," he half-whined, a childish tone in his voice.

"Don't make me play the _Les Miz_ soundtrack," I warned.

"No! No musicals! You know what happened the last time you played that one!"

"Then listen to your relaxing CD and shush!" I demanded. "I'd like to get home without being in an accident and I need to think over a plan for tonight."

He glanced my way over his shoulder and focused on the road again. "Is this something where I have to drop you off?"

"Nope. Not this time," I said, already thinking over what I need to do and didn't say another word.

For the rest of the drive back, I thought over many things that could have been potentially good ideas, although some seemed very awful, too. One of my ideas was to play the damsel in distress and hoped that he'd find me but it didn't really seem like the best way to go. I couldn't come off as the fragile girl who couldn't handle a couple of creeps with weapons; I had to let him see that I was an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. and I could handle anything. It seemed like my best option was to look for him but my problem was _where_. Right now I was beginning to believe that Fury picked the wrong person for this; I had no idea what to do in order to find Spider-Man and already felt like I'd screw it up.

I sighed quietly, really not liking that I was over thinking this. Most agents used the S.H.I.E.L.D. database in order to find their target but how there was little information on Spider-Man right now; I doubted that I could find him so easily in New York. Then it hit me: maybe I _can_ use the database to find him. I wouldn't have to go to the Helicarrier itself but maybe I could use the program from my own computer and search for Spider-Man there. It was absolutely perfect!

Looking out the window, I was able to see that we were at the building and saw Happy jog over to my door. When he opened it, I grabbed my things and stepped out.

"I'm going to park the car, go inside and make sure your dad doesn't notice anything…different about you," Happy said, closing the door and walked back to the driver's side.

I looked at him, confused. "What do you mean 'make sure he doesn't notice anything different'? What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"If Tony notices that you're smiling or giggling too much, I'm screwed for taking you there," he said, raising his voice a bit so I could hear over the honking cars driving by.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "You're being paranoid again, Happy." I turned on my heel, walked to the door, smiling politely to the doorman and entered after he opened the door.

Once I was inside, I made my way over to the elevator and hit the up button. I started thinking back to Peter's house and how sweet his aunt was. It was still interesting how the mother figures in our lives were pretty similar, I would have loved to ask him more about his uncle but I knew how it felt to speak of a deceased loved one. It is hard to think about them and usually it hurts but I also knew that keeping the pleasant memories about them was great. As I entered the elevator, I pushed the button to the top level and was thinking over some things from the meeting I had with Fury yesterday. He seemed so positive that I could bring Spider-Man and that he will join S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course, I knew it wouldn't be so easy; this guy is a vigilante and they always prefer working alone. It even seemed like the idea of joining the Avengers wouldn't really appeal to him.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, already feeling a headache coming on just thinking about a man I have yet to meet. Sighing, I felt the elevator stop and saw that I was already on the top level. I stepped out, gripping the strap to my messenger bag and reached the door to the penthouse where I placed my hand on the handle. I felt my heart beat a bit faster, getting anxious for Tony's reaction in case he did find out I was with a male friend.

I took a deep breath, mentally counted to ten and opened the door. When I entered, I was glad to see I wasn't greeted with an interrogating Tony and a shielding Pepper. All I saw was Charlie run over to me carrying his plush raccoon with pure joy in his eyes.

"Charlie!" I smiled, kneeling down and petted my puppy. "Aww, I missed you!"

The sound of bare feet padding against the hardwood floor caught my attention and I looked up to see Pepper, who was already out of her work clothes and in a pair of track pants and t-shirt.

"I see that Charlie found you," she smiled, walking over to me and hugged me when I stood up. "How was school, sweetie?"

"It was good. I have a couple of things that I need Dad to sign, though," I said, pulling away from her embrace, walked over to the couch and sat down. I took out a folder that held everything the teachers had given me and felt something against my hand. I took out the crumpled paper and glared at it. "Ugh, you are not going to believe what happened to me today."

"I'm guessing by the looks of that paper, you got another person trying to slip a résumé with your things again," Pepper stated rather than questioned, earning a curt nod from me.

"Damn straight."

"Language," she warned.

"Oh, come on! That one's not as bad as what we've heard Tony say before!" I complained, staring at her with wide eyes. "That's not fair, Pepper."

"Sorry, but no foul language in front of Charlie." Pepper took the crumbled paper from my hands and went to the other side of the living room.

"I don't even swear that often," I grumbled and realized something. "Charlie's a puppy! He can't fully understand the human language!"

"Not yet, but once he is fully trained and understands commands, he is likely to understand a bit of what we mean." She gave me teasing smile and was already setting up the paper shredder that was next to a box full of paper.

"Very funny," I responded, adding sarcasm to that. "What's in the box?"

"Old documents and contracts to things when Stark Industries was still manufacturing weapons," Pepper answered.

I nodded, finding it hard to believe that after all this time there'd still be papers from that. "So, where is he?"

"Tony's upstairs." She glanced my way and slid the paper into the shredder, where it whirred to life and destroyed the paper the receptionist at the school gave me.

The noise of the paper shredder caused Charlie to bark and growl, completely hating the sound of it.

"Shhh, relax, Charlie," I commanded, giving him a gentle but firm tap on his hind leg. Once he relaxed, I looked to Pepper, giving her a confused look. "I thought the upstairs was off limits since Tony might not be interested in using the rooms?"

"That was the plan until I got back here and saw that he hired some people to move all of our things upstairs." Pepper turned off the machine, much to Charlie's delight and walked back to the couch—sitting next to me.

"Wait. Yours and his, or all of our things?"

"All of our things."

"But I liked my room," I sighed, hating that Tony did that. I liked how I had everything, liked that I had my own bathroom and also didn't have to worry about Charlie being nervous around stairs.

"This one is a bit larger than the first one—about the same size as the one back in LA. And you still have your own bathroom, you definitely have more closet space, as well as more space to have some of Charlie's things, and you have your own balcony," she said, hoping to comfort me some.

"A balcony?" I repeated, catching my interest. Pepper's always known that I wanted one; maybe the switch wouldn't be so bad.

"It's not that big but you still have one," she added.

"Does that mean it's not safe for me to be on it?" I asked.

"No you can. Tony was out there earlier testing it out, so you're fine to stand on it. Just make sure there isn't any Rapunzel moments, honey," she said, giving me a look.

"I don't have blonde hair that's fifty feet long," I quipped. "My hair is barely reaching my waist again and it's dark."

She gave me a look and thought over something. "Fine, then no _Romeo and Juliet_ moments."

I scoffed, shook my head and got up from the couch. "With who? I'm not interested in any of the boys at school." I made sure to have all the papers in my hand and walked over to the stairs.

"You never know, honey," Pepper smiled, shrugging nonchalantly as she got up and walked over to me with Charlie following after her. "You might just attract the attention a certain boy with brown hair and brown eyes."

"Shhh, do you want Tony to hear you!" I hissed, playfully swatting her with the papers. "And I doubt that's highly likely, Pepper."

"Remember, Alison: sometimes a girl's male friend can just later be her boyfriend." She gave me smug look and walked up the stairs.

"Just because it worked for you and Tony, does not necessarily mean it'll happen for me," I said, shaking my head and saw that she was still walking up the stairs—not listening to me.

I looked back to Charlie, seeing that he was bounding up the stairs after Pepper. It didn't surprise me that Charlie was really fond of her; thanks to Pepper I get some help with him while I was busy with other things. I went up after them, taking in the second level that I believed we wouldn't use at all and saw that it was now decorated in the same way as it is the downstairs—modern with everything reading Tony Stark. Although, just like the downstairs, it seemed to give off a home-like feel to it because of Pepper living here. Just thinking about the idea of not having Pepper around when I needed her gave me a great appreciation of that. I was able to see pictures of us on the wall, the very same ones we had back in LA. There was always one that caught my attention out of the rest: the first picture that was taken after my adoption. Both Pepper and Tony suggested we'd go to Disneyland since that was what "normal" families did. I remembered having a blast and Tony bought me so many sweets and toys—much to Pepper's protesting. We went on so many rides, met so many characters and walked around until our feet were sore. Pepper wanted the three of us to take a picture right in front of the castle, and with the help of one of the employees there we did. Tony looked so much younger here, less stressed, that easy going smile of his was large and bright thanks to our journey around the park. Pepper looked the same, it seemed like she never aged at all after nine years; she smiled equally as much as Tony did that day and the both of us got princess inspired makeovers that day. And lastly, the eight-year-old version of myself looked so happy being there; my hair styled neatly with curls, completed with colored and glittered hair extensions with a small tiara and my face done with cosmetic glitter—just like Pepper's. My blue eyes large and bright, full of excitement and happiness, and my smile large just as big as Pepper's and Tony's.

This picture was one I truly loved to see all the time. Yes the others were nice, too, but it was this one that I enjoyed since it was the first time since my mother's death that I smiled and laughed. And it was all thanks to Tony and Pepper.

Hearing some noises coming from down the hall, I walked further down until I reached a room with a door slightly ajar. When I opened it, I saw Tony and Pepper talk over something. Looking around, I see that the things in the room were mine, and immediately knew that I was in my new bedroom. It was larger than the one I claimed before downstairs, all my furniture didn't seem as close together—giving both Charlie and myself more space to move around. Charlie's bed was in here, too, as well as a couple of his toys.

"What do you think?" Tony asked, catching my attention to look away from everything else and look at him.

"It's definitely bigger than the room I had yesterday," I commented, walking over to him and Pepper. "What made you decide to use the rooms up here after all?"

"When it was brought to my attention that we have all this space that is meant to make this place feel like a home," he answered, shrugging. "Plus, I need a lot space downstairs in some of the rooms if I'm going to work on some…stuff."

"You're not going to convert one of the rooms into a mini display room for your suits, are you?" I shook my head. I really should have seen it coming. Back in LA he had something close to that except it held a lot of his cars, robots and other high tech things he made.

"Well, display room wasn't the term I was looking for. Guess you can call it an at home office," he said, walking over to my desk where he picked up a bottle of water and took a sip. "But, it was good knowing that you didn't have a lot stuff. Even though I have a hunch that you'll get more things and fill up this room with them."

"Ask Alison about her day," Pepper suggested to him, knowing that we'll continue off in a conversation that would go on for hours.

"Right. How was it, exactly?" he asked, looking from Pepper to me. "I mean you went to the school you hated before you even attended but came back nearly four and a half hours after school was finished for the day."

"It was fine," I shrugged. "I have a couple of things I need for you to sign." I lifted the papers to him, smiling.

"Alison, you know I don't like being handed things." He eyed them with mild disgust.

"Oh, come on, Dad. It's something I need you to look over and sign so I can get credit in my classes," I sighed, it bugged me whenever he did this. "Please take the papers and look over everything."

He grunted, taking the papers from my hand and looked them over. "I only have five copies here. Why aren't there six?"

"Because one of my classes is just being a service worker for the library."

"Hmm," he hummed, nodding to himself as he looked over the papers. "And did you have fun with your friend today?"

I blanched, feeling my heart stop. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, your new buddy from school. What was his name? Parker? Or was it Peter?" His gazed lifted to meet mine and shrugged. "You did see him at the school, right?"

"Oh, like you mean did I see him and hung out with him at the school only?" I asked, feeling anxious and tried to remain calm so Tony wouldn't be suspicious.

"Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Did you see him at all?" he asked, his eyes searching mine almost like the answer was there.

"Yeah! Yeah, of course I saw him at the school. He definitely was there," I said, my voice hit an octave higher. I cleared my throat and bit my tongue to keep from laughing nervously. "And his name is Peter Parker. That's his last name. It was also because of Peter that I was able to learn a lot about the school and we're in almost all the same classes."

"Oh, well, that's great!" Pepper smiled, finally joining in on the conversation. "Did you make any other friends at school?"

"No, not really," I admitted, walking over to my desk and took a seat in the chair. "I mean, I did talk to other people there but I wouldn't say I'm making any other friends."

"And how does this Peter kid count as an actual friend if you've only known him for a day?" my father questioned, skepticism written all over his face.

"Because I talked to him and got a very good vibe from him, Dad," I answered, sitting back into my seat and crossed my legs—relaxing more now than I was a while ago. "Plus, I'm trained to spot a good person from a bad one."

"Sure, use that as an excuse," he scoffed, looking through the papers.

"Okay, the both of you, let's stop this now before it continues and gets out of hand," Pepper interjected, raising her hands calmly. She looked toward Tony. "Now, I suggest you look over those papers so Alison can earn her credit."

"Fine, I'll go do that." Tony organized the papers and was about to make his way to the door until he looked to me. "Have you finished your homework?"

"Yes, I did everything in school." I uncrossed my legs and began unzipping my boots.

"Good because Pepper had to take over for you in taking the dog out for a walk and looked after him."

"Yes, Dad, I'm completely aware of that. I'll even make sure I take Charlie for a walk tomorrow myself," I said, taking off my boots and smiled at Pepper. "And thank you so much for doing that for me."

"You're welcome, honey. It was the least I can do," she smiled back. "Now, we want you to be back before midnight since it is still a school night and you shouldn't use S.H.I.E.L.D. business as an excuse."

"I know," I nodded. "You both made that point very clear after you found out I was an agent."

"Well, we'd like to remind you every chance we get—just to instill that in that brain of yours," Tony piped in.

"Of course," I muttered, getting up from my seat. "Now, if you'll both excuse me, I have to get ready so I can go out tonight."

"Okay, but be careful out there, Alison," Pepper said, that motherly tone perfectly clear in her voice.

"I will, don't worry," I smiled, hoping to ease Pepper's nerves.

She looked to Tony, concern still in her eyes. "Pepper, she'll be fine. She's handled an alien army and a demi god—nothing to worry about. The most she'll see is a few punks doing some petty crimes."

"He's got a point," I agreed, nodding. "Listen to him, Pepper. He knows what he's talking about."

Pepper sighed. "Sure, when she's out fighting and on missions you're not so strict but when it comes to boys…"

"I do worry, but not as much as you do," he countered.

"Okay, guys. I hate to break this up, but I'm kind of wasting time here." I showed the clock on my phone. "I'd like to go in less than twenty minutes from now."

"We might as well leave her to that." Pepper and Tony both said their byes and walked out of my room with Charlie.

It was good knowing that Pepper would look after him again for me. I really didn't like that I was not spending much time with him but I had a job to do right now. I was certain that I'd have time to take him to Central Park tomorrow after school, hopefully a good walk around there will be perfect for him.

I walked over to my closet, seeing that it was definitely different than the one downstairs and searched for my cases. Once I found them, I opened the one that contained my weapons and gadgets, and then the other that held my navy blue S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuit. I hadn't worn it since last spring and I was very glad it wasn't ruined from that. I changed out of my clothes and into the suit, grabbed all my stuff and slipped on another pair of boots—this time a pair that were flat. I was a bit comfortable when I had the wedges on but I'd rather run comfortably tonight. Glancing at the mirror, I combed my hair and tied it into a tight ponytail again. After I did that, I made sure to change up my makeup—making sure to add more eyeliner and darken up the eye shadow to help me appear older. When I had everything I needed, walked over to my laptop and turned it on.

I made sure to sync with the S.H.I.E.L.D. database and the Helicarrier to search for Spider-Man, keeping my fingers crossed that no one from the Helicarrier sees that I was on—last thing I needed were other agents seeing me. I managed to get enough information on possible locations that Spider-Man would be, all of which are near or within Manhattan and Queens. I synced the information I found to the GPS/watch device on my left wrist and shut off my laptop. I opened the door to my room walked out, walked down the stairs and out the door—closing it behind me.

* * *

I had been walking around Manhattan for over an hour and I hadn't seen one sign of Spider-Man anywhere. I made sure to be around all the places that he could have possibly been, even looked out for any of the webbing he used that comes out of his wrists but found nothing. If I could, I would have asked people if there was anything about him but it wouldn't have ended so well if I was recognized. Making sure to stick closer to the shadows, I continued to look until I was in Times Square. This part of the city was especially bright and noisy; so many people walking around, taxis cabs honking at other taxis cabs and so many flashing lights from both the electronic and non-electronic billboards.

There was no way I could hide so easily here, although I had a feeling that this might be the best place to search for him. Some of the locations I've searched definitely involved the Midtown area and I was more than willing to figure out why that is after I find this web-head.

I stuck close to what seemed to be the cleanest alley I could find and took out my sunglasses; making sure to switch on the night vision feature to look up toward the tops of the buildings. I wasn't really able to see much thanks to all the lights that were giving off a faint glare. Glancing down toward the end of the alley, I saw that it was empty and decided to make my way down. I was glad that it didn't smell so much here as the previous ones did, just the thought of urine on the street was making my stomach uneasy but I made sure to push through it. _You're an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. and agents don't vomit on the job! _I mentally scolded myself. Most people wouldn't dare go down an alley during the night for fear of coming face-to-face with a couple of thieves but I kind of doubt I'd find any right now.

Well, that was until I heard some footsteps behind me.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here, boys. It's a pretty little girl," I heard one of them say, his voice deep and harsh.

_Seems like I just jinxed myself,_ I rolled my eyes, took off my glasses and turned around to face them—seeing that it was five men that appeared to be in their late twenties. Most of them had corduroy jackets and jeans on, and only two had shoulder length hair. They seemed to almost fit the description of men that Spider-Man would go after—perhaps with the help of these guys I could find him much faster.

"Hmm, she really is a pretty little thing, ain't she?" Another one gave me a once over and ran his tongue along his lips suggestively.

I internally shuddered in disgust. There was no way I was looking forward to dealing with jerks like these tonight—no matter how much they'd possibly help me.

"Hey, check it out, Ace! It's Tony Stark's kid!" The one to my left exclaimed, complete with a New York accent.

My heart stopped and I blanched, _This might not be good._ I made sure to have a calm mask on.

"Would you look at that, Billy's right!" the previous man, Ace, said, grinning with udder delight.

"I bet her old man will pay big money to get her back."

I noticed they were getting closer to me, trying to seem menacing and terrifying, and if it were some other situation, it could have worked.

I decided to mess with them, make them believe that I was just a helpless kid. Making sure my voice trembled, I said, "Oh no, y-you guys can't do that! My daddy will be so worried for me."

"Sorry, sweetheart, but it seems like your daddy will have to worry tonight because you're coming with us." He snapped his fingers and two of his goons were already starting to advance toward me.

I took a step back, slowly moving my right hand to my right hip and carefully held two paintball sized stun pellets. I bit my lip. "I won't go willingly and-and I don't have anything of value on me."

Ace snickered, causing his buddies to laugh as well, and tsked. "Oh, believe me, kid, your dad will be more than willing to pay up anything for you. And about you not coming willingly, well…we'll just make you."

"Five grown men against one of me? That really isn't fair!" I sniffed, making my lip quiver a bit and looked to the ground. Once I heard them laugh, I chuckled, looked up and gave them a smug smirk. "But, then again, you guys don't look so…tough."

"Just 'cause you're wearing that little getup, doesn't mean you can fight against us, sweetheart," the perv that was checking me out snickered.

Once they all joined in, I tossed the pellets at the two men nearest me—watching them yell in pain and fall to the ground. Before anything else happened, I broke into a sprint, making sure to run away from these guys as fast as I could.

"Grab her!" Ace yelled, anger evident in his voice.

That should teach them to believe I was some damsel in distress, I continued to run until I was out of the alley and turned to my right. I checked the compass on my GPS/watch and saw that I was heading north. I wasn't sure where I was going but I knew I had to get away from these guys and fast. The pounding of feet behind me caused me to run much faster, I wasn't sure if I could outrun them here but I had to at least ditch them somehow. I continued to run, nearly dodging other people along the way and was shockingly surprised no one noticed that I was being chased—maybe it was probably because I was more within the supposed secluded area of the city but I wasn't sure. I just knew that I had to keep running; there was no way these guys would keep chasing me. Although it seemed like I kept proving myself wrong as they started to catch up to me again.

After it felt like I was running for almost half an hour, I looked behind me and saw that they were still chasing me. I tried reaching for my gun but found my holster empty, realizing that I left it home.

"The one time where I need it…I don't have it!" I groaned, and continued to run.

I looked around, seeing that I was passing up less familiar buildings. Checking the GPS on my wrist, I saw that I was nearing Central Park and saw that I might have a chance of either losing them or fighting them off. I was mostly hoping for the former rather than the latter but once I heard one of them laugh behind me, I made sure to pick up the pace.

When I ran through the entrance, dodging a few late night joggers, I made a beeline for the trees to hide there. I slowed to a jog until I stopped completely, leaning against a tree to catch my breath. I tried to breathe as quietly as possible, hoping to not attract attention and hoped that they wouldn't find me.

"I saw her go this way," a male voice said, causing me to tense.

"She can't be far. After running for so long, there's no way this kid can find her way out of this park at night." Ace's voice sounded certain.

I reached down to the small pack I have near my left hip and pulled out my sunglasses, very grateful that the night vision was still enabled when I slipped them on. I looked to my left and was able to make out three figures slowly making their way toward me. Very carefully, I made sure to back away and hid behind another tree.

"You sure put on a great show back there, girly!" Ace shouted, hoping to draw me out. "But I'm sure you're very tired after all that running. Just come out and you won't get hurt."

I heard them approach even closer, reaching into my pack again, I pulled out another stun pellet and a smoke bomb. Quietly counting to ten, I came out from behind the tree and tossed the smoke bomb—watching it engulf them in thick gray smoke. When they began coughing and coking for air, I came up from behind one of them and pushed a pressure point in his neck, seeing that he fell to the grass. Someone grabbed me in a vice like grip—this one being pretty short—causing me to butt the back of my head, hard, against his nose. He let me go, groaning and I turned around to jam the heel of my palm against his nose again—making sure I broke it. I kneed him in the stomach and then dropped to the grass, swinging my leg under his and dropped him to the ground.

When I stood up and turned around, I came face-to-face with the barrel of gun and froze. I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me again, causing me to drop my stun pellet, hold me in place and I saw Ace's stern face glare at me.

"I don't know who you think you are, kid, but you've got a lot of nerve trying to fight us," he hissed, keeping the gun at my face. "Now, I'd really hate to ruin a face so pretty like yours but you've left me no choice."

He raised his hand to my face, getting ready to hit me until I saw something fly from my left and grab Ace's arm.

"Now, come on, guys. Is that any way to treat a lady?" A male voice said, causing us to turn to the left and saw a shadowy figure hunched up in the tree.

"Get out of here, Spidy!" Ace shouted, trying to yank his hand free.

"Seriously? You seriously think that'll work?" There was amusement in Spider-Man's voice and I saw more of his webbing shoot from his left wrist, latching onto Ace's gun.

The gun flew out of his hand and landed away from us; I saw Ace yanked away from where I was and landed a couple of feet away from me. Looking to my left again, I saw Spider-Man land close to where I was being held by one of Ace's guys.

"Now are you going to let her go or do I have to fight you for her?" he asked, titling his head to the side as he looked between the guy behind me and myself.

The other guy's response was tightening his grip, causing me to groan. Deciding that I've had enough, I stomped my foot on his, feeling him let go of me and ducked out of the way as I saw Spider-Man use his webbing to wrap around him. When I saw that he was finished, I dropkicked the guy right to the ground. I looked to Spider-Man again; seeing him tense up and jumped out of the way as Ace tried to shove him into a tree but before he even collided with the tree himself, I punch him right in the face—knocking him out.

I shook out my hand, groaning softly as I watched Spider-Man use his webbing on Ace. "Man, that guy really had a thick head."

"Well, hopefully he learned his lesson and won't mess with you again," he said, looking from Ace to me. "But I wasn't sure how long you could have handled against them."

"I could have handled everything perfectly fine, thank you," I muttered, putting away my glasses back into my pack.

"Really? That guy had a gun, how could you have handled against that?" he questioned, his glassy yellow eyes looking at me—I struggled to not squirm under his gaze.

"Well…I did until that happened." I bit my lip, looking down at the ground; seeing how well he entrapped those guys with his web. "So…thanks for helping."

"You're welcome." He gave me a half-bow, making me laugh weakly. "Need a lift?"

"A lift? Meaning you'll take me home?" I nearly slapped myself for even asking that.

"What else would I mean?"

I thought it over; it would seem like a good idea to speak with Spider-Man when I'm back on my building—plus, he was willing to take me back and I wasn't expecting that from him.

"Sure, I'd like that," I responded, smiling.

"All right, come on." He started walking away from where we were hiding and I followed after him.

I had a feeling as to how he was going to take me back and I was getting nervous with the idea of it. When we were out, I saw the moon shine brightly over the park and cast more light around the area than the lamps did. I looked to Spider-Man and caught him staring at me, which caused him to look away and shift from one foot to the other.

"So are you going to take me back now?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips and raised a brow.

"Yeah, come on." He walked closer to me, wrapping one of his arms around my waist and I instinctively wrapped mine around his neck. As much as I hated to admit it, my female mind couldn't stop going crazy over the fact that I was somewhat touching Spider-Man's lean muscled body. "Hang on tight."

He raised his hand up, angling it to a nearby building and I saw the fiber-cable-like webbing shoot out of a device that was on his wrist. _So that was how he used his webbing._ When it struck the building, we were both flung up into the air and he continued to shoot the webs to navigate his way through the air. Despite the strong hold he had on me, I couldn't help but hold on tighter to him—I was nervous about falling to my death here. Spider-Man asked where I lived and I gave him the address to the building.

Throughout the entire trip he'd whisper in my ear to calm my nerves and usually I wouldn't have any that were this bad but it seemed like being high up in the air can do that to a person. It took us nearly twenty minutes to get to the roof of my building and I was glad to be on a flat surface again. When he let go of my waist, I sat down on the ground and put my head between my knees—making sure to take deep breaths.

"Wow, I must say, Miss Stark, you really aren't a fan of heights," he chuckled, his voice was very close to me.

I looked up and saw that he was crouched right in front of me, those glassy yellow eyes showing off my reflection and I couldn't stop myself from getting lost in them, and wonder who could be behind that mask.

Mentally shaking my head, I let out a weak laugh and hugged my knees close my chest. "Normally I don't but it seemed like this time, flying through New York with a masked man, certainly did the trick."

"Hey, I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, Miss Stark." If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn he was smirking under that mask. "I would never let anything bad happen to you."

"I have a first name, you know," I said, keeping a close watch on him and made sure to not fully look into those yellow eyes on his mask.

"Am I allowed to call you by that?" he asked and the questioned totally threw me off.

"What do you mean?" My brows furrowed; head tilting to the side as I looked at him. "Do you need permission to call me by my actual name?"

He shrugged, "It never hurts to ask."

It still seemed strange that he'd ask but I gave him a small shrug and small smile. "Well, Spider-Man, you are free to call me Alison."

"Can I call you 'Alice?' I love to give nicknames to those I meet." His tone was playful, almost too playful to be a hero to this city.

My smile dropped; the name caused me to tense and I shook my head. "No, sorry. That's one name you can't call me."

"Why not? I think Alice is a nice name—sounds old fashioned or like that girl from the _Wonderland_ movies."

I continued to shake my head, making sure to stay calm. "No. I'm sorry but I have some personal issues with that name right now and…only very few can call me that. Like _very_ few."

He sighed, raising his hands in surrender. "All right. I won't push you into telling me the reason—I won't call you Alice."

"Thanks," I muttered, shaking my head again to clear it and got up in a standing position. "And thanks for bringing me here but now there's something I must say to you."

"And what is it that you want to say?" He stood up from his crouch, standing much taller than I was—kind of made me wish I had my heeled boots.

"Well…" I trailed off, biting my lip as I thought over what I was going to say. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm wearing something like this."

"Yeah, I did but didn't feel like questioning it because I thought it was just a fashion statement you girls seem to go through a lot."

"I was looking for you, Spider-Man," I said, hoping that I'd come up with the right wording along the way.

"You were looking for me? Wow, I didn't know I had such a big fan with Alison Stark!" I was able to hear a smirk in his voice and I must say that brash and cocky didn't really suit him well.

"That's not what I meant," I rolled my eyes. "I'm here on behalf of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D. for short."

"S.H.I.E.L.D.? You mean that agency that dealt with everything after those aliens and that Asgardian attacked New York?" he questioned.

"So you have heard of us."

"Wait? Us? You mean to tell me you're an agent for them?"

"Of course I am, why else would I be dressed like this and can kicked the most butt from those guys? But, before anything else is said, my boss, Nick Fury, wants you to join the agency." It's odd that it felt so easy and I knew that it shouldn't.

"Sorry, I'm not interested."

"Not interested? What do you mean you're not interested?"

"I'm not the type that works with others," he shrugged. "I'm more of a loner."

"This is an excellent opportunity to join a very powerful agency that can really help you out, and you won't accept it? Why?" No matter how I expected for him to actually say no, I kind of hated that I was right and was failing in convincing him.

"I told you my reason: I'm better off alone." He looked away from me and stared off at the buildings surrounding us.

"My boss wants you to join," I added, folding my arms as I looked at him.

"Then tell him I declined," he responded, not even looking at me anymore.

"You can learn a lot of things from the agents—it could help you advance more as a hero," I said, hoping that whatever I said could at least get his attention. Although I had a feeling I knew one thing that might help more.

"Again, I'm still not interested, Agent."

"There's a spot on the Avengers with your name on it if you join," I blurted out, hoping that that should reel him in.

Spider-Man's head titled to the side and he turned around to face me. "They want to put me on the Avengers?"

"Yes. Director Fury saw how you handled that situation with Dr. Curtis Connors not long ago and he believes that you'll be a great addition to the team," I said, unfolded my arms; thinking back to my meeting with Fury and all that stuff I saw about Spider-Man and the Lizard.

"Because of how I handled that situation with Dr. Connors?" he repeated and shook his head. "If he knew about it, then how come he or his agency didn't come to help with that? Some people had their lives ruined because of that incident."

I paled, not sure how to respond to that at all. I didn't realize that was hard on him—it must have been if it bother him at all.

"Let me guess, Fury only sent you to be the messenger and thought that since you're a girl, I wouldn't say no to you?" he questioned, folding his arms.

I glared at him. "No! Director Fury asked me to come and talk to you because he…believed that I…" I trailed off, thinking over what he said. Could that have been the reason why Fury gave me this job?

"Exactly my point." He unfolded his arms and turned on his heel, making his way to the ledge of the roof. "Goodnight, Alison."

I shook my head and followed after him. "Wait! You can't go. I need you to hear me out about joining the team!"

"I already told you, I'm not interested. And make sure you tell that to your boss." He jumped off the building and I saw the webbing shoot out from his wrist, and watched as Spider-Man swung away from my building.

I groaned, sitting down on the ground and buried my face in my hands. This didn't go as I planned and I knew that I'd stop at nothing until I got Spider-Man to agree in joining both the agency and the team—no matter how many times I tried.

* * *

**Author's Note: So, Spider-Man was finally introduced and did you love it? Hate it? Thought it was bland? How did you think of how I had Spidy portrayed—was it great or not? Let me know in a review! I really love to hear from you guys and once I see some love for this chapter, I'll get started on the next one immediately. So, again, please review, favor, and follow this story and be sure to be on the look out for the next chapter!**


	5. Along Came a Spider(Man)

**Author's Note: Hello everyone, I just want to thank all of you that reviewed. It meant so much to me for that. And I'd also like to say that I am so thrilled that this story is at 30 reviews! You guys are totally and completely awesome for that—thank you so much for all the love you have showed this story! ^_^ And as a reward, I updated with a new chapter! And I'm glad you liked how I had Spider-Man in this because I was very ****nervous. So, here's the new chapter and I hope you enjoy. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _The Amazing Spider-Man_ or _Iron Man_ or anything else that I use in this chapter, they are owned by Sony, Marvel, Disney and other places/companies. I only own Alison.**

* * *

**Along Came a Spider(Man)**

Walking into school the next morning was definitely not something I was too thrilled about. I was still a little ticked off that Spider-Man declined the offer—no matter how much I knew he would. A small part of me was hoping that I'd prove myself wrong but unfortunately that didn't happen. I was glad that neither Tony nor Pepper asked about it, I wasn't in the mood to speak of it and wanted to get ready for bed. Although, I hardly slept at all—I was constantly tossing and turning, and whenever I did manage to sleep, I'd wake up due to dreaming about spider webs and glassy yellow eyes.

As I continued down the hall toward my locker, I kept receiving looks from a couple of the students. I was pretty sure they'd do this for a while since I'm still the new kid. I got a lot yesterday because I was always with Peter, but I made sure to not notice after second period. However, right now walking on my own in the hall made me feel uneasy and I wrapped my arms around myself.

I just tried not to dwell on that and kept walking, making sure to keep at a pace that my body allowed me to walk; I was _completely_ sore. Running and fighting those guys last night did a number on my body; I even had some bruises on my arms and hands this morning. _I probably should have stretched before I went out._

When I finally reached my locker, I put in the combination and opened it. I slipped off my messenger bag, groaning softly, and grabbed the things I needed for my first couple of classes. I was glad that I dressed in more comfortable clothing today: dark washed skinny jeans, a white V-neck shirt with a gray cardigan and a pair of black ballet flats—a total change from what I was wearing yesterday. I couldn't even bring myself to wear heeled boots again, not with my feet being so sore. Just the thought of them now was making my feet ache even more. I was about the close my locker until the faint discoloration on my right hand caught my attention. Thanks to punching that creep last night, my hand was left with a slight bruise—something I never had happen to my hand before until last night. It seemed like being out of the game for a while really screwed up some things.

I sighed and tried to bring down the sleeves of my cardigan to cover up my knuckles. It wasn't much but at least it was better than nothing. The sound of shoes against the linoleum caught my attention and I looked up to see Peter walk over to his locker—his head down, hood up and I could hear the music blasting from his ear-buds.

Once I heard the music turn down, Peter took one of his ear-buds out of his left ear and began putting in his locker combination. "Good morning, Alison."

"Good morning, Peter," I greeted; puzzled that he hasn't looked at me. "Umm, is there something wrong?"

"No. Why do you ask?" he questioned, still not fully looking at me as he put away a couple of his textbooks into his locker.

"Well, you haven't looked at me and, I don't know, I feel like I might have done something wrong to upset you," I explained as I closed my locker to try getting a better look at him.

The hood of his sweatshirt under his jacket still obscured his face; I was only able to make out his nose and his lips.

Peter shook his head just slightly, and responded. "You didn't do anything. I just had a tough night and couldn't sleep."

"Well, would you mind taking off your hood so I can see you?" I asked, biting my lip.

His lips pressed firmly into a tight line, possibly thinking over what I asked; once he had his conclusion, he dropped his head and pulled off his hood. What I saw next caused me to gasp and dropped my messenger bag in the process. Peter had a huge bruise on the side of his face and what appeared to be a scrape along his chin. The markings weren't very raw but they still looked bad. When he looked at me, he grimaced at my expression.

"Oh, my God. Peter, what happened to your face?" I gasped, lifting my hand to touch the bruise on his cheek but he turned away from me and stared into his locker. "Who did this to you?"

"No one did this to me," he sighed, closing his locker and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he turned his attention back to me. "I went out skating last night since I couldn't sleep; I didn't pay attention where I was going until I nearly flew off my board and into a brick wall."

There was no way that could have happened; I could tell he was lying and I had no idea why he'd cover it up with that lie. "Peter…" I sighed, shaking my head and picked up my messenger bag. I grabbed his wrist and began tugging him to follow me. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" he asked, walking right behind me as I nearly dragged him forward.

"We are going to one of the very empty bathrooms and I'm going to take care of that on your face," I answered, already rounding the corner.

"No, Alison, you don't have to do anything to this. I'll be fine in a couple of days," he protested and stopped walking—causing me to nearly jerk back to him.

Despite him only being seventeen-years-old, Peter was strong—quite strong if he was able to have me nearly fall back when he only stopped. That caught my curiosity but I didn't really dwell too much on it. "Trust me, Peter, it'll be fine. I use this stuff on my dad all the time whenever he first started out as Iron Man and I'm sure it'll cover up what happened to your face." Even though there was a small part of me that felt like he was lying about how he got them, I still couldn't stand seeing those bruises on his face.

"You're going to use makeup on my face?" His eyebrows shot up, questioning what I said.

"It's not regular makeup, it's this really good stuff that only movie studios use to get some full-on long lasting coverage. It's completely fine," I explained, going into my bag and showed him the travel-sized pallet I had with me. "And it's totally washable—that way you can take it off before or after you get home."

Peter just stared at me, conflicted about doing this. "I don't know, Alison. I'll be fine."

"Peter, it's okay. I want to do this. Please?" I asked, pleading with him with my eyes.

He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and bit the inside of his cheek—thinking it over. After a couple of minutes, Peter sighed and then nodded. "All right. I'll let you take care of this."

"Thank you," I smiled and started walking to the girls' bathroom.

"Wait, are you sure that this one is safe for me to be in?" he questioned, eying the door suspiciously.

"Yes. The librarian told me that there's rarely anyone in there and it's perfect for someone who wants to either change their clothes or have some privacy from everyone else," I explained, looking back at him—my hand resting against the door.

He seemed confused by that, not really helping him at all. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Yes. I'll even lock it, too, if that makes you happy."

Peter looked around the hall, making sure no one was looking, he groaned softly and made his way to the door. "All right but hopefully this'll be quick."

I smiled, opened the door for him and followed right after he entered. There wasn't really anything wrong with it; the bathroom was pretty clean and bright since it was on the first floor—I still wasn't sure why not many people chose it. But, whatever the reason, I was glad to have it empty right now to take care of the bruises on Peter's face. Once we were inside, I locked the door and looked around for the chair that was still inside. It seemed odd that there was a chair in the girls' bathroom but I found it here yesterday when I decided to look around the school and assumed someone had put it there some time ago. I brought the chair over to one of the sinks and placed it there, patting the seat to attract Peter's attention.

"It's all set," I announced, smirking as I placed my bag on one of the sinks.

"I still think we'll get caught," Peter said, watching me as he walked over to the chair and sat down.

"Stop worrying, we'll be fine," I said and washed my hands in one of the free sinks.

"And if we are?" He raised a brow, eying me as I dried my hands.

"If we get caught…then I'll say you ran in here after I did to comfort me over something that happened," I shrugged, trying not to appear amused by his worriment.

"I meant what I said before…"

"Peter, relax. Everything will be fine and once I get this stuff on those bruises, you'll be as good as new." I picked up the concealer and a clean makeup sponge from my bag, and walked over to him.

He sighed, sat back and looked at me—giving me the okay to get started. I opened the pallet, dabbed at it with the sponge and carefully applied it over the bruise on his cheek, biting my lip whenever he winced.

"Sorry," I muttered, pushing my outgrown bangs as best as I could out of my face. "I'm trying to be as careful as I can be without making it worse."

Peter moved his hand to my face, helping me move my hair away and tucked it behind my ear. "No, it's fine. I'm sure I'll get used to the pressure of it." He gave me a weak smile. I was still surprised by his action; feeling my face become warm and bit my lip, returning to covering up the bruises. When he saw this, he cleared his throat. "So, what happened when you got home? I was kind of expecting a text from you saying that your dad was going to pay me a visit. But when you didn't…I guess I got a bit worried."

Mentally shaking my head, I glanced up at him, smiled a little and continued to work on hiding the bruise. "Everything was fine. Tony didn't suspect a thing—which was great—but what I didn't like was that he moved all my things out of a room I thought would be mine into another."

"He moved your things into another room?" He raised a brow, confused. "Why would he do that?"

"He thought doing some…home improvement would help the place—without him tearing down the walls or anything in that nature."

"So just basically moving furniture around?"

"Yes and he gave me an even bigger room," I nodded, and sighed when my hair fell into my face again. "Do you mind holding this?" I held out the pallet for him. When he took it, I reached into my bag again and pulled out a black elastic band, and tied my hair back.

When I took everything back from him, Peter stared at my right hand and his forehead creased. "What happened there?"

I pulled my sleeve over my hand again; mortified that he saw my knuckles and tried to play it off. "It's nothing."

"No, no, no. Since I let you make a big deal about my bruises, then let me do the same thing," he shook his head and smirked, lightly grabbing hold of my wrist and gently pulled it away from his cheek to get a better look. Peter ran his thumb over the faint red over my pale skin there and I couldn't help the pounding of my heart against my ribcage when he did that. "What did you do? Or should I say how did it happen?"

Trying to calm down the frantic beating of my heart, I shrugged. "Let's just say I'm a…pretty clumsy person at night," I lied, feeling my stomach clench for even doing that to Peter. I was good at lying for work but outside in my personal life it would always make me feel terrible.

"What did you do hit a wall while trying to flip the light switch?" he chuckled, letting go of my hand and allowed me to finish up on his cheek.

"Umm…more like hitting the bedside table in my sleep. I had a dream I was punching some jerk who was after me," I shrugged, feeling even worse for saying that. However, I knew shouldn't feel that way; I _did_ hit some jerk who was after me…just not in a dream.

Peter laughed and I felt relieved that he bought it—I really hoped that I wouldn't have to do that again later. I finished up on his cheek, tapping it with my finger to check if it did stay and then went on to covering up his chin when I saw none rubbed off on my skin. It didn't take that long to do, which I was glad for since class was about to start soon and I didn't want to be late at all. It kind of felt strange doing this to Peter; whenever him or I talked, I'd catch him staring at me—almost like he was trying to figure something out. It still puzzled me that earlier he was nearly giving me the cold shoulder and now he was all chummy with me again. As much as I didn't like it, I was just glad that he was fine and we are on friendly terms.

"There all finished," I announced, pulling back, took out the elastic band from my hair and began putting everything away.

Peter looked in the mirror and nodded to himself. "You can't really tell that I even had those bruises on my face." He looked my way and smiled. "Thank you, Alison. I really appreciate it—even if I was reluctant at first."

"You're welcome, Peter," I smiled back and zipped up my bag.

"Oh wait, here." He stood up, taking off his jacket and then unzipped his sweatshirt underneath to reveal the dark gray shirt he had on. He held out his sweatshirt, offering it to me. "Put this on. That way you don't get asked about your hand."

I stared at it, somewhat nervous about that. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. See, there's holes right here for your thumbs to slip through—the sleeves will help out a lot." Peter pointed to them and I nodded. "Put it on."

I bit my lip, still unsure. "I don't know…"

"I let you help me; now I think I should help you." He stared at me with those brown eyes that I already had some difficulty with being focused.

I nodded and took it, slipping it on—making sure to slip my thumbs where they needed to be—and zipped it up to where it was under my breasts, completely covering the cardigan I had on. I gave him a small smile, finding it hard to believe that I was actually wearing his sweatshirt. "Thanks, Peter."

"You're welcome," he smiled back, slipped on his jacket and picked up his backpack from the floor.

The whole time he did that, I tried not to stare. Thanks to the jackets and sweatshirts he'd wear, I was never able to see the lean muscle that he had. I could faintly see them against his shirt and I had to shake my head when he wasn't looking to clear it. _He's your friend, Alison. Don't start thinking too much into Pepper's ideas._

When he looked my way, he inclined his head to the door. "Come on, let's head to class."

Making sure that my head was clear, I nodded. "All right." Picked up my own things and went over to the door. I unlocked it and we both slipped out—completely unnoticed by any of the students.

* * *

Time passed by rather quickly at school today; I went to all my classes and turned in everything to earn the credit I needed to help me with the classes I had—which is saying a lot with my math teacher who I had only known for two days and I already want to scream. Normally I was fine with everything in school but this guy was a serious nutcase.

"I swear with the way Mr. Cooper is, I am so close to showing up to school in one of my dad's Iron Man suits and give him a piece of my mind," I shook my head as I grabbed my math book and shoved it into my bag.

"Well, you did call him out on that math error. That's never happened before," Peter commented, grabbing his skateboard and closed his locker.

"Yeah, it was just one error and the man thought I was accusing him of murder," I rolled my eyes and closed my own locker. "Now, thanks to him, he gave me—not everyone else—just _me_, extra homework tonight because of it."

"It's sadly his form of punishment on us," he shrugged and began walking with me out of the building.

"Well, he'll be surprised that I actually did everything and I'll be more than happy to show him that I did everything without my calculator," I shook my head and took in a deep breath. "If you don't mind, I'd like to switch the subject and think up something pleasant before I decide to go off about Mr. Cooper."

"All right," he chuckled, completely amused by this. "Are you still planning on taking your dog for a walk in Central Park? That is what you said a while ago in class, right?"

"Yes! I am absolutely looking forward to that!" I grinned, and nearly felt myself skip. "That does seem like a good place to go for a walk with him, right?"

"Oh yeah, you're fine going there. Sometimes I'd see dog walkers with a bunch of dogs walking around there, but leashed."

"Oh, I'll keep him leashed. He's only four months old—still a little puppy."

He scoffed quietly and chuckled. "From the looks of that picture you showed me, he does not look little."

"I'm talking about age, not his sized," I rolled my eyes playfully and giggled. "But he'll always be my little puppy in my eyes."

"Do you baby him a lot?" he asked, glancing at me as soon as we were out of the building.

"No, I don't baby him a lot. Just around the time where he's tired and after I train him," I explained and realized something. "Oh, hold on." I stopped walking and unzipped his sweatshirt he had given to me in the morning. When I had it off, I held it out for him. "Here. Thank you so much for lending it to me today. I'm glad that you did."

"You're welcome." He smiled that crooked/adorable smile I adored seeing and took it. "It's the least I can do since you helped me." He pointed to the concealed bruises on his face.

"And you are welcome for that." We kept walking until we reached the car and I saw Pepper stand outside of it, waving at us.

"Hi, guys," she smiled when we got closer.

"Hey, Pepper!" I greeted, hugging her and smiled. I pulled back and looked at her. "I thought you were at work?"

"I was but how you said you were going to take Charlie for a walk, I thought I'd bring him with me and pick you up from school," she explained, smiling and glanced at Peter.

"Oh! That's right, I never fully introduced you guys," I laughed nervously and looked to Peter. "Peter, this is my dad's girlfriend, Pepper Potts. And, Pepper, this is Peter Parker."

"Hi, Peter, it's nice to finally meet you," Pepper smiled, holding out her hand to shake Peter's.

"Hi, and you, too, Ms. Potts." He shook her hand, smiling.

"Oh, call me Pepper. I'm totally fine with you calling me that."

He nodded and then let go of her hand. "So how are you liking New York? I hope it's not too different from LA."

"I really love it here and I'm sure Alison thinks the same." She looked my way and continued after I nodded my affirmation. "And for the second part, it kind of is but not really. I mean, we aren't anywhere near the beach but I think it seems really nice here. Especially some of the interesting things about this Spider-Man I hear so much about from everyone in the building."

"Oh, what do you hear about Spider-Man?" he asked, his tone casual, as it should to everyone else, but it had a faint curiosity to it—something I was only able to detect.

"It varies, actually. There are some good comments and bad ones, but everyone is wondering if Iron Man will ever 'clash' with Spider-Man," she explained. "I know Alison was very curious about him when we first got here."

"Pepper!" I hissed, getting nervous about that. Peter didn't need to know that.

"Hey, don't worry. I hear girls really go for the guy in red and blue spandex," he commented, smirking my way and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "But that would be interesting if Spider-Man ever met Iron Man…maybe it'll make the news."

I was about to say something on that until I realized something that Pepper had said earlier. "Wait, did you say that you have Charlie with you?"

"Yes. He's in the car right now." Pepper glanced over to the end of the car. "He's ready for you to take him for his walk. So, while you're doing that, Happy is going to take me back to work and then he'll drive back and pick you two up so you can go home."

"Oh, I was kind of hoping I'd get to go back and change my shoes before I did that," I said, biting my lip.

"I already brought you a pair to put on. They're in the car, in a bag, and in that bag you have the things you need so you can walk Charlie," she explained, easing things for me.

"I think I should be heading home. Get started on that homework Mr. Cooper assigned us," he told me, grinning and chuckled when he saw my grimace.

"Don't remind me," I groaned, just the idea of it was irritating me.

"Would you like a ride?" Pepper asked Peter, causing him to look at her. "I'm sure you'll get there faster with us."

"No thank you, it's fine. I'll catch the subway and also ride my skateboard—it doesn't take that long," Peter shook his head and smiled. "It was nice meeting you…Pepper."

"It was nice to finally meet the famous Peter Parker that Alison talks so much about," she smiled, pulled Peter into a hug and winked at me over his shoulder—causing me to blush.

"Pepper…" I was completely mortified right now but I think I'd rather deal with this than an overprotective Tony if he ever showed up and met Peter.

When Peter pulled away from Pepper's embrace, he looked my way and said, "I'll see you tomorrow, Alison."

"Okay. Bye, Peter," I gave him a quick hug and pulled away—looking down at the concrete.

Peter waved to Happy when he finally got out of the car and hopped on his skateboard, riding it down the sidewalk, as he was careful not to bump into anyone.

"Have I ever told you how much I like him?" Pepper questioned, nudging me with her elbow and then led me over to the car where Happy waited with the back passenger door open.

"Oh, my God, Pepper, I can't believe you did that!" I groaned, sliding into the car and got as comfortable as possible after Charlie took the middle portion of the backseat.

She slid in and sat back after Happy closed the door. "What? I didn't do anything bad."

"You told him about my 'curiosity' of Spider-Man. He had no idea I even knew of Spider-Man," I hugged my bag close to me, hiding my face in it.

"Alison, it's fine that he knows. He'll just…think you're being a normal teenage girl because of it. He _did_ say that most of the girls like him." Pepper rubbed my back, trying to comfort me. This was part of the very rare occasions where _she_ was the one embarrassing me instead of Tony.

I grumbled into my bag, trying to hide my face even more into it when I felt Charlie try to lick my face.

"Are we still going to the park? I still have time to take her home instead," Happy spoke up. I wasn't even aware he got back in the car as well as when he began driving.

"I think taking her home would—"

"No! I want to go to Central Park. I need to walk Charlie." I lifted my head up from my bag and looked to him.

"To the park it is!" Happy drove on.

I looked out the window and saw that we were already nowhere near the school. No matter how odd I found that, I was just glad to be away from it and tried to calm down. Charlie curled up as best as he could where he was and rested his head on my lap.

Scratching behind his ears, I spoke up. "It's fine that you told him but I just _really_ hope that he doesn't think I'm some crazy fan-girl over Spider-Man."

"I'm sure he won't, you're not really the type…unless you start watching _Game of Thrones _or _Once Upon a Time_, or knows about both the Harry Potter books and movies, and _Hunger Games._ Or any other book that you've read," Pepper shrugged. "Those would be things you go crazy for."

"He doesn't know about those things…yet," I bit my lip, thinking about how that would be. "I mean there's nothing bad with them; those are normal things people like, but he does know I love classic movies. That's one thing we have in common—other than us both being pretty smart."

"I think that's a good thing. Maybe your father would approve of this."

I rolled my eyes playfully, smiling. "You'd really love it if I started dating, huh?"

"It never hurts to think about," she said nonchalantly, giving me a small smile. "But I just want you to have fun and enjoy your time here as much as possible because things get very serious and dangerous with S.H.I.E.L.D. You should try to enjoy things before fully focusing your time with them."

I thought over what she said; Pepper really didn't like it when I first told both her and Tony I was an agent and she'd constantly worry about me because of it. I'd remember all the times she'd try to say something but would get interrupted. Of course, I do believe she's worrying for nothing but sadly she has every right to do so.

"I'll consider it but I still have things to focus on for both school and S.H.I.E.L.D. that I'd like to take care of first." Even though I feel like the S.H.I.E.L.D. part might take over a bit.

"All right, but make sure you keep that in mind." She picked up a canvas bag that was next to her feel and handed it to me. "Are you going out tonight?"

"No, not tonight." I took the bag and felt Charlie move off my lap. "I have homework and, thanks to last night, I'd like to stay in and relax."

"Rough night?" Happy asked.

I hesitated and sighed. "You can say that."

"What happened?" Pepper asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

Grimacing, I shook my head. "Let's just say things didn't really go the way I had planned." I put my attention on slipping off my flats and began to pull on the socks and shoes Pepper had brought me.

"And I'm guessing we can't find out about that, right?" Happy asked, staying focused on the road and was careful not to hit anyone outside.

"Sorry, it's information that I can only share with my boss," I said, finishing up and handed the bag back to Pepper.

We all went silent for a while until Pepper broke it and asked about how things were for me while I was at Peter's house. I told her everything; I told her about the house, about Peter's aunt and what I knew about him. It made me smile knowing that Pepper truly liked Peter; it even made me wonder how well she and Peter's aunt would get along if they met. As I began telling her more about Peter, she started pointing out the similarities Peter and I shared. Of course being quite smart and orphans aside, she'd say we both had our own nervous ticks—Peter's being his hand rubbing at the back of his neck and mine was biting my lip—we both had strong mother figures in our lives and she thought we were both adorable, which caused me to playfully roll my eyes. Even though Pepper will view me as a young adult, she still sometimes sees me as the eight-year-old that'd always bring injured animals home from the park and constantly watch Disney during sick days.

We kept talking until we reached the park. I didn't want her to go back to work but I knew she still had things to do.

"Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes." I showed her my iPhone, the other things she brought me and lifted Charlie's leash—already clipped to his collar.

"Is your phone off silent?" she asked.

"Yes, I took it off as soon as I was out of class," I nodded. "I'll be fine, Pepper."

"Okay." She hugged me, kissing my head. "Take care of yourself, sweetie, and make sure you and Charlie are careful. Stark Tower isn't that far—it's about ten minutes away—and Happy will be back as soon as possible to pick you guys up."

"Okay," I hugged her back and pulled away. "Come on, Charlie."

Happy opened the door and I got out with Charlie following me. I made sure to keep a good grip on the leash, commanding him to sit and looked back to Happy and Pepper.

"I'm going to call you when I'm two blocks away from here. Maybe that'll give you some time to meet me back here," Happy said, walking over to the driver's side.

"Got it. Bye," I waved and watched him get in. I turned my attention back to Charlie. "Let's go."

His tail wagged and we began making our way in. Central Park was very beautiful; it was full of trees and so much greenery that it makes one forget that it was part of a big city like New York. It almost made it seem like you were completely away from all the tall buildings, all the really loud noises and taxicabs…it was just great to be in. Charlie happily walked ahead of me, occasionally sniffing the ground to smell the new scents. I looked down to my hip; glancing at the camouflage doggy pick-up bag dispenser clipped to one of the belt loops I had there and was glad to have it with me right now. Or more like glad Pepper that had brought for me—it would really help later after Charlie was finished.

A couple of minutes pass and I looked at my phone, checking for when Happy would call to pick us up. It was a bit hard doing this, I wanted to keep looking around but couldn't since I need to head back home. Sighing, I walked over to a doggy drinking fountain and made sure he had some water. It even surprised me when I found out about these things while I was in the library today. The librarian, Mrs. Brooks, was very helpful with giving me plenty of information about it since she had two dogs herself and loved taking them for a walk here. I was even excited for some of the events she told me about that the park does for the dogs and would love to be a part of it.

I took in everything that I wasn't really able to notice last night thanks to being chased by those guys. Of course, the leaves on the trees were nearly all gone from the branches and it was definite that it was almost winter. This was something I rarely saw in Southern California; it was always bright and sunny—despite the very weird change in weather half of the time throughout the year—there was always palm trees and other things most people in other cities would envy us for. However, they had no idea how lucky they were to at least have _actual_ changes in seasons where they lived.

Charlie's barking caught my attention and I saw him bark at a squirrel a couple of feet away from us. Gently tugging the leash, I drew his attention away and led him to an area where he could do his business. I waited a bit and then picked up after him. After I tossed the pick-up bag in a nearby trash bin, I cleaned my hands with hand sanitizer and heard my phone go off. When I took it out, I answered Happy's call and was making my way back to where he had dropped me off. As I continued walking and talked on the phone for a bit, I got the feeling that I was being watched. Sure, I was in the park and people would look at me because they knew who I was or think they know, but this wasn't that. This was the creepy, being watched kind of feeling I was getting. And thanks to it, I was fully alert after I hung up with Happy. I picked up my pace and nearly broke into a jog with Charlie just so I could get back to the car faster.

When I finally reached where Happy had dropped me off, I quickly but discreetly looked around where I was and surveyed the area—looking out for signs of anything out of the ordinary. I didn't really see anything but I still got the feeling of being watched. Shaking my head, I shrugged it off and walked over to the car with Charlie, and was looking forward to going back to the building.

* * *

"Okay, let me get this straight: you guys are going to a dinner tonight and I'm barely learning about this now?"

"Well, that was the reason why we brought you pizza and ice cream to ease the news of this," Dad said as he fixed his tie. When he had that finished, he shook his head, took off the tie and slipped on his sports coat.

"Dad, most parents tell their kids ahead of time when they make plans, not as soon as they get home," I sighed, watching him finish up. "What is this dinner about, anyway?"

"Just those normal charity dinners that I'm invited to a couple of times out of the month," he answered, looking my way. "I'm seeing some people with the Make-A-Wish Foundation."

"So is it going to be with the people from the organization or with a kid?" I asked, curiously.

"The people from there. In case you had forgotten, I do donate to them." He walked over to a pair of watches and took two out, trying to decide which of the two to wear. It was always something he'd have some difficulty with. "Which one: the gold or the silver?"

"The gold one looks better. It goes with what you're wearing," I said and knew it was true. My dad was wearing black slacks, a burgundy button-up shirt with the first three buttons open and a black sports coat.

He looked at the watch, nodding to himself and put it on his left wrist. "So, I trust there will be no S.H.I.E.L.D. agents over."

"Yes, Dad, I'm aware of that rule." I tried my best not to roll my eyes and made it seem like I was preoccupied with my phone.

"And no boys over, too," he added, drawing my attention away from my phone.

"Dad, I only have one friend at school that I trust and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be able to make it here if I asked," I explained, putting my phone away in the pocket of my sweatpants and got up from where I was sitting on his bed.

"He's a teenage boy. Teenage boys are bound to do something if asked by a pretty girl." He fixed the collar on his shirt as he looked at me through the mirror.

"Aww, you really think I'm pretty?" I batted my eyelashes and tried not to laugh at that. I never thought of myself as the fully attractive kind of girl thanks to all I did with S.H.I.E.L.D. I was too athletic and always preferred wearing jeans to skirts and dresses.

"Of course and if that Parker kid is just like any other teenaged boy, I'm sure he'll come running over here if you called him over to hang out while Pepper and I are gone," he explained, applying a bit of cologne and I rolled my eyes at what he had said.

"Tony, don't be mean. If you ever meet Peter, you'll see what a nice boy he is and be glad that your daughter is friends with him," Pepper said as she entered the room, coming to Peter's defense. She looked my way and asked. "This dress is fine, right? I'm starting to rethink it."

I looked at her dress; a simple purple cocktail dress that hugged her frame perfectly, her red hair was done in soft waves and the pale gold heels she was wearing went great with the dress. Nodding, I answered. "I think it looks great. You guys seem set to go."

"Will you be fine here by yourself? I feel so awful that we have to go to this and we didn't tell you on time," Pepper sighed, hugging me. "I knew we should have waited a bit more to do these things, Tony."

"Pepper, it's fine. I mean, I _do_ think you guys did this too fast but it's fine. These things happen." I pulled back from her embrace and looked at both of them. "I'm finished with my homework and I already took my shower that I take before I sleep. I'll just stay up a bit more and then get ready for bed."

"Really? It's only seven thirty in the evening on a Thursday night and you're going to sleep early? What kind of teenager are you?" Tony asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'm those abnormal ones that would rather stay in and sleep," I smirked. "And I'm sure you guys will be back later."

"Yes, we'll be back a little after midnight," Pepper answered, glaring at Tony as he looked at his appearance in the mirror one last time.

"Yeah, and it's already time for us to head out." Tony grabbed the last of his things and turned his attention to Pepper. "Do you have everything?"

"Yes, I made sure not to forget a single thing," Pepper answered, smiling.

"Did you remember to put on deodorant? You know the last time you and I did something like this, and we started dancing, you said you forgot to put some on?" he teased, smirking at her.

"Tony," she sighed, shaking her head and playfully hit his arm. "That is not funny."

"I thought it was a good one," he shrugged and waited for us to exit the room.

Pepper and I walked out of the room and into the hall, waiting for him to follow us. Once he was out, we all walked downstairs and reached the first floor of the penthouse. I saw Charlie off to the side in his playpen, playing with his plush raccoon that he loved to play with.

"Rules: no boys, no loud music and no boys," Tony said, drawing my attention back to him just in time for Pepper to elbow his side.

"I will agree with your father on the loud music part. We need to be mindful of our neighbors in the building," Pepper commented and pulled me into a hug. "We'll be back later, we'll call you when we're there and don't open the door to anyone."

I hugged her back, nodding. "Yes, I know."

She kissed my head, pulled back and moved my outgrown bangs out of my face. "Have a good night, my dear Alice."

I smiled, nodding. Even though I wasn't too thrilled when Spider-Man called me that last night, it was completely different when those close to me did. Alice was the pet name my mother used to call me because our favorite story to read together was "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and my mother believed I was just like Alice. After she died, I always cried whenever I'd hear that name—I couldn't even think or look at anything that was about "Alice in Wonderland." It wasn't until I turned ten that I began to trust my new family and allowed them to call me by that name again. Of course, it isn't really said as often but it did feel great hearing that name again. However, when Spider-Man suggested calling me that, it didn't sit so well. I just hoped that when I'd see him again, it doesn't happen.

I looked over to Tony and gave him a weak smile. He walked over and hugged me, kissing the top of my head. "Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Bye, Dad," I hugged him back and pulled back, looking at the both of them. "Have fun and don't party too much."

"We won't, and I'll keep an eye on your father—making sure that he doesn't spend too much time at the bar," Pepper smiled at him and he shook his head.

They walked over to the door, Tony opened the door for Pepper; she smiled at him, walked out and he followed after her. He looked my way one last time, giving me a small smile and then closed the door—leaving me alone with Charlie.

"Time to party," I said with fake enthusiasm and made my way over to the kitchen.

I looked around in the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of soda. I poured myself some into a glass, took a sip, and then put away the bottle back in the fridge. Going back over to the plate of my unfinished dinner, I picked it up—with a handful of napkins—went over to Charlie's playpen, opened it and walked upstairs with Charlie following behind. When we reached upstairs, I went straight to my room and placed both my drink and dinner on my desk. I had another playpen to have Charlie in while I ate and ushered him in. Once he was in, I went to my personal bathroom and washed my hands.

As I dried my hands, I heard Charlie barking and growling. I walked back out to my room and looked around, trying to find the source that was causing my dog to be like this. When I found nothing, I went over and calmed down my dog. I wasn't sure what could have caused it but I didn't think too much on it. I went over to my desk, turned on the TV, and channel surfed—trying to find something good on tonight. And it seemed like even with all the channels we had, I still wasn't able to find anything good to watch. I decided to just switch it to the Blu-ray Player and went back to watching _Game of Thrones_. Maybe Pepper was right about me being too addicted to this show.

"Oh, well," I shrugged; went back to eating my dinner, the pizza Tony and Pepper brought me, and watched TV.

I wiped my hands with a napkin and looked over at Charlie, seeing that he was just staring at the television screen. It was definitely weird how much he paid attention to that and I'd often wonder what could go on in his head whenever he'd focus so much on these shows. After a while, I finished my food, downed my soda and then ran downstairs to put both the plate and glass in the sink. I washed my hands again and raced back up the stairs, rushing right into my room. I saw Charlie still look at the TV, not even noticing I was gone and turned to walk back to my desk until I saw a shadowy figure stand outside on the balcony. I screamed, and pulled out my Taser gun that I had under my desk until that figure moved closer into the light and I saw that it was none other than Spider-Man standing out there.

"What the fu…" I groaned, placed my gun on my desk, went over to the oversized window—it appeared more like a glass door—and ignored my dog's barking. I opened it and glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I just thought I'd drop by and see how you were doing?" he shrugged, looking over my shoulder and saw Charlie still barking at him. "Nice guard dog."

"He comes in handy when masked men try to come visit me in my room at night," I quipped, smirking and still had my glare intact. "How did you know where my room was?"

"I guessed and looked around to find what seemed the most obvious looking room a teenage girl would have," he said nonchalantly and I was able to hear a smirk in his voice.

I dropped my own smirk, really not enjoying that he pretty much looked around the building to find me. _Can you say stalker?_ "So, why are you here?"

"I already told you, I came by to see how you were doing after last night." He stared at me, those glassy yellow eyes just making it impossible for me to look away. "Can I come in?"

Charlie was still barking at him, I glanced his way and looked back to Spider-Man. "I'm not sure if Charlie would like that."

Spider-Man looked over my shoulder at Charlie again and looked back to me. "I'm sure he'll be fine once I'm in; let him smell me and he'll become familiar with my scent."

I stared at him, thinking about that while biting my lip and shrugged. "It's worth a shot." I moved back and let him enter my room, thinking to myself that I've already broken one of Tony's rules for tonight. _At least JARVIS is off and won't rat me out to him._

Spider-Man entered and looked at Charlie, who was growling and tense. He raised his hands and slowly walked over to my dog. Charlie was still growling but when Spider-Man got closer, he sniffed near his foot and the hair along his scruff slowly went down. This truly surprised me; I knew Charlie was never aggressive toward other people but I didn't think when it came to someone who was masked would calm down my dog this quickly.

"There, that's a good dog," Spider-Man nodded, petting Charlie and he wagged his tail from the attention. "This is one scary guard dog you have here, Alison."

"Thanks," I muttered, closing the window and made sure to pull the curtains over to cover up the view of my room. I looked back at the two of them, seeing Charlie stare up happily at Spider-Man as he scratched his head.

Scratching Charlie's head one last time, Spider-Man stood up, glanced at the TV and looked my way. "You know, I never really pictured Iron Man as a dog person."

"Charlie's mine but I like to see him as the family dog." I went over to my desk, picked up the remote to the player and stopped my show. I folded my arms and stared at him. "So after declining my boss's offer to join the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., you thought it was fine to come and check up on me?"

"Well, you _were_ chased after by some creeps last night and I wanted to see how you were doing after that." He stared at me and I found it strange that he'd stare at me so intently—almost as if trying to figure something out. "I wanted to see if you were in shock or hurt from last night."

"I'm fine," I answered and was glad that I had worn a baseball tee tonight rather than a short-sleeved shirt on. "I know how to handle myself against guys like them."

He nodded and sat down on my bed. "And does your dad know about you? You know, being an agent and all that."

"Of course he does. As soon as my boss started showing up, my dad found out that I was an agent," I said, watching him. "And I was even there with them during all the stuff that happened here last spring."

"Wait you were there…?" He trailed off, tilting his head to the side and raised his hand to his chin in a thoughtful manner. "You _were_ there! The way you were dressed yesterday is exactly how you were during that attack from those creatures in the spring. Someone even took video of you guys fighting and uploaded it on the Internet."

"Yes, and I was glad that no one was clever enough to figure it out that it was me…until now," I sighed and then shook my head. "Okay, look: this really shouldn't be about me right now. I should be the one asking questions to you because of how things went last night."

Spider-Man sighed. "Why is it such a big deal for me to join your group? I mean, everyone sees me as this punk vigilante that managed to stop the Lizard but couldn't save the former Captain of the New York Police Department. Why is your boss so interested in me?"

What he said caught me off guard. It seemed like what had happened with Dr. Connors really did something to him and seemed like whatever happened with the former NYPD Captain affected him a lot, too. "Honestly, I'm not sure but whatever the reason, he wants you. In my opinion, it probably has something to do with Dr. Connors because Director Fury was showing me some stuff about him."

He tilted his head to the side, as if confused by this. "Dr. Connors? I thought he was in prison?"

"I'm pretty sure he is but Fury seemed worried about something," I shrugged, unfolding my arms and sighed. "Listen, I haven't talked to him today and I'm not sure why he wants you to join so bad. If anything, he'll call me tomorrow and ask about this. When I tell him that I couldn't get you to join, he'll have my head and either ask someone to help me or take me off this."

"And, what, is this your first time doing this?" When I didn't respond, he got his answer. "Oh, man. This _is_ your first time."

"Hey, this isn't really my first time getting an assignment," I countered, getting defensive and thought about how to word it. "It's…my first time doing this alone."

"Doing an assignment alone? Did you always have someone with you?"

"Yes. Normally, I'd work with one of my mentors but he was killed last spring trying to stop a crazy Asgardian from escaping." I took in a deep breath and sat down on the chair by my desk—staring at the floor. "I was going to follow after him but instead I went to help my dad and Captain America."

"What about your other mentor? Is he okay?" Spider-Man asked, causing me to look up at him and—even with a mask covering his face—I saw that he was conflicted. Just the way his hands clenched and unclenched, I could tell he was struggling with something.

"_She_ is okay but…" I trailed off, thinking about how to word this. "Let's just say that it's difficult working with a trained and highly skilled assassin during missions."

"Your other mentor's an assassin?" he asked, shooting up from the bed so fast that if I had blinked I would have missed it. "Wait, so does that mean you're pretty much licensed to kill?"

"In a way, yes. But I wouldn't really do it unless I have to—it's something I learned from her…and Coulson." I tried not to seem amused by this. I freaked out Spider-Man with just a brief description of my other mentor and he hasn't even met her, and I am _really_ hoping that doesn't happen.

"So let me get this straight: your other mentor, the high skilled assassin, might help you on this if I don't agree to it? Are you threatening me with that?"

"Nope, I'm just telling you about her and she doesn't kill for the fun it." I stood up and stared up at Spider-Man without losing focus because of those eyes. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to be here alone and finish my TV show so I can go to sleep. I may be an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. but I'm still in high school."

"Why would you still be in high school if you're already working for spies?" He questioned, folding his arms across his chest; if there wasn't a mask covering his face, I could have sworn one of his brows were raised.

"Just because I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. it doesn't mean that I shouldn't have somewhat of a normal life…let's call it a secret identity," I suggested, lifting one shoulder in the form of a shrug. "I'm sure you're perfectly aware of this."

"Don't tell me an agent like you doesn't know who I am under this?" He seemed skeptical of this and unfolded his arms, which surprised me a bit.

"I really don't know who you are under that mask," I said honestly, shaking my head and folded my arms this time. "If I did, I would have called you by your civilian name as soon as we were alone yesterday."

Spider-Man remained silent for a second, possibly thinking over my statement and nodded. "All right. I see your point. But I'm sure you'll figure out eventually, right?"

"Yes." I got an idea and unfolded my arms. "But if you're willing to tell me who you are now…" I raised one of my hands to the end of his mask, trying to make a move to lift it.

His hand—gently, but firmly—grabbed my wrist, stopping me and shook his head. "No, not gonna happen. At least not right now. How about I make a little deal with you."

"What kind of deal?" I asked, moving my hand back to my side after he had let go and watched him carefully.

"How about I think over what you said about this…teaming up with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers after you give me more information as to why it's so important for your boss to have me join?"

I thought about it and it seemed like a good idea. I get more information about this and it gets me closer to closing this deal with Spider-Man to join. "All right, I'll agree to that. And once I get that information from Fury, you'll join?"

"If I'm joining for a good cause—meaning saving either the city or the world from anything bad…then yes."

I tried not to show the excitement in my voice or face and left my face in a calm mask as best as I could. "Perfect; it's a deal." I held out my hand to him.

Spider-Man grasped my hand, the same way he grabbed my wrist, in his gloved one and shook them—closing the deal. We let go and just stood still, staring at each other but for some weird reason a small part of me felt like the way he grabbed both my hand and wrist seemed familiar. I wasn't sure why that was; there really shouldn't be any familiarity between us at all but it seemed to be that way right now. Mentally shaking my head, I decided not to dwell on that and focused on Spider-Man.

"I should go. I'm still on duty," he said, looking toward the window. "I'll leave you to your _Game of Thrones_ and let you get ready for sleep." He looked my way again and caught my surprised expression as to how he knew what I was watching. "Goodnight, Alison."

"Bye." I watched him walk over to the window, opened it and then jumped off my balcony—already using his webbing to swing away from my building. I walked over to the window and locked it, already feeling my mood lighten up thanks to that little encounter with Spider-Man. It seemed like this might just be easy after all.

* * *

**Author's Note: So...whatcha think? Was it good or it didn't live up to your expectations since I hadn't updated in over a month? I really hope you guys did like it. Took me a while since I am still in school and it does feel like it takes me a month to actually write out a chapter thanks to my schedule. :/ But aside from that, let's do something fun! Anyone want to take a guess as to who Alison's other mentor is? Guess correctly and she'll possibly be in the next chapter! And if anyone guesses where I got the idea of Mr. Cooper from will also have him earn more time in a chapter and possibly something...interesting will happen his way lol So, please remember to review, favor and follow this story and I hope to have the next chapter up soon. :)**

**P.S.: I've been listening to "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons on repeat for the _longest_ time ever since I first started writing this thing and I must say it works out pretty well whenever I write. ^_^**


	6. Enter the Babysitters

**Author's Note: Hey, guys! I just want to take the time to thank every one of you that reviewed the previous chapter! It means so much to me that you guys are enjoying this and reading all the reviews definitely made me happy. Plus, I'm also glad most of you guessed right with the questions I asked. So, I am here with another chapter and this one has a couple of pleasant additions and surprises. Hope you enjoy. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is from the _Amazing Spider-Man_, _Iron_ _Man_, the _Avengers_, and everything else I mention or use in this chapter. They belong to either Sony, Marvel, Disney and/or other companies. I only have Alison.**

* * *

**Enter the Babysitters**

"I'm telling you, Director, it's really not that simple to get him to join us. After my two encounters with him, he really doesn't seem too convinced to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers."

"Every man has a price, Agent Stark. What did you say to him to at least consider joining?"

I tried not to bite my lip. It was two days after I made my deal with Spider-Man and Fury was already getting impatient. He wanted and needed to know what had happened, and I was nervous to even say anything. "I didn't really say anything to him but he wants to know why you want him to join so bad. He wants to see if there's a specific reason as to why you want him."

"A specific reason?" He repeated, his unpatched eye narrowing slightly. "Why would there be a specific reason for me to ask him to join?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, but he feels like there should be one if you want him to join so badly."

He sighed, shaking his head and stood up from his seat. "Did you say anything to him? Gave him something to go with?"

"All I said was there might be a possibility of Dr. Connors doing something but that was it. And, that did seem to spark some interest for him." I thought back to when he visited me in my room; something I never thought would happened and was glad Tony didn't find out when he and Pepper got back home. As I thought back, I started to remember something that Spider-Man had said, something about the former Captain of the NYPD and it had something to do with Connors. "Director, do you know anything about the former Captain of the New York Police Department? When I was speaking with Spider-Man, he said something about the captain and I've been curious ever since."

"What did he say?"

"He said something about the captain being related to the rampage Dr. Connors did as that giant lizard," I said.

He stared at me curiously, almost as if he wasn't sure what to make of what I was saying. "Well, I'm not sure how much it'll help, but the former Captain of the New York Police Department was killed by Dr. Connors."

This surprised me. "Dr. Connors killed the captain?"

"Yes, and it was not a good way for anyone to die." He was near a computer, typed in something that caused the lights to turn off and an image appeared before me. "Captain George Stacy died not long ago and Dr. Connors, as that overgrown lizard, killed him by stabbing him through the chest with his razor sharp claws."

I tried not to shudder or grimace at the thought; that was so awful. I stared at the image; Captain Stacy appeared to have been a middle-aged man with dirty blond hair and blue eyes. He looked like someone that really worked hard for his job and for others…it kind of reminded me of my father.

"We also got word that someone else was there as well," Director Fury said, drawing me away from my thoughts.

"Spider-Man." It started to make sense now but what seemed strange was that a police officer was actually helping Spider-Man—from what I had heard, the police weren't too please with him.

He nodded. "It was a sad time in George Stacy's family and the NYPD." He tapped a key and another image appeared, this time of a girl around my age with blonde hair and blue eyes—the same ones Captain Stacy had. "This is his daughter, Gwen. She used to intern for Connors at Oscorp and, well, let's just say that it was hard for her to come to terms that a man she saw as a mentor kill her father."

I nodded, staring at the image. Gwen Stacy didn't really appear the type to intern at a place like Oscorp but I shouldn't really judge a book by its cover. Sure, she appeared to be the pretty blonde girl that'd catch everyone's attention but could also be smart. I was beginning to wonder what happened to her.

"Although," Director Fury began, drawing my attention back to him. "And I'm not a man that believes in coincidences, it seems interesting to bring up that Gwen Stacy went to your school."

My eyebrows rose, surprised by this new information. "She went to Midtown Science? What happened to her?"

He tapped another key and another image of Gwen appeared before me. Once it was up, Director Fury spoke up. "Her mother had her switch schools after Dr. Connors showed up and nearly destroyed Midtown Science during his giant lizard rampage. I'm sure you're able to see some of the damage that was done."

"Yes. A couple of hallways are still closed off and some students have to take detour routes to get to their classes." I glanced his way and looked back at the image. "My dad donated money to the school to help with the repairs."

"How generous of him." His comment was laced with sarcasm.

I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from saying something rude to him. Staring at the image, I saw something that immediately caught my attention. Further away from Gwen, I saw familiar looking disheveled brown hair on a boy holding a camera to his face and with a skateboard attached to his backpack.

"Peter?"

"What was that, Stark?" Director Fury asked, one eye squinted at me.

I mentally cursed, wanting to slap myself for saying anything out loud. "It's nothing, Director."

"It didn't seem like nothing." He stared at me, causing me to nearly shift uncomfortably in my seat. "You said something after looking at this picture. What was it?"

I sighed quietly and said, "I said a name. Peter. From the looks of this image, it seems like someone I know is in it."

He looked at the image again, tapped a couple of keys and the image changed to where I saw Peter in perfect view. "You know this kid?"

"Yes. He's a friend of mine from school." And I really hoped that he would not get involved in this assignment in any way or form at all .

Fury stared at the image, I could practically see the gears turning in his head and knew he was planning something. He sighed and shook his head. "Well, I was thinking you should keep an eye out for him but I kind of doubt that this kid has anything to do with Spider-Man, so that idea is out." I tried my best not to appear relieved; glad that I wouldn't put Peter through anything like this. "But, I do have an idea to help get this going much faster."

"What is it?"

"As much as I feel like you could have handled this on your own, I'm dismissing that decision and bringing in two agents to help you out on this," he paused and smirked a bit, an expression I wasn't entirely too used to seeing. "And I feel like bringing in these specific agents, two people that you have worked with quite a bit, will definitely help you stay focused on this."

"Two agents? Who are you…" I stopped, thought about it and felt my eyes widen. Already having an idea as to whom he could be referring to. I quickly shot up out of my seat and pleaded, "Oh, no. Director Fury, you can't possibly consider having me work with those two?! Sure, I get along great with them but I really don't think—"

"I already made my mind up on this, Agent Stark." He moved a hand to his earpiece and muttered. "You're clear to enter." Fury hit a few keys on the keyboard; the image disappeared and the lights turned on in the conference room.

The sound of the door sliding open caused me to tense and I heard a voice that I hadn't heard in a while. "Looks like she already got the news. Good to see you again, Alison."

"Agent Stark, I'd like to reintroduce you to your partners on this assignment: Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton."

I turned around and looked at them. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, better known by their codenames Black Widow and Hawkeye. These two are the top assassins that the agency would call for the pretty tough jobs. Agent Romanoff was a petite redheaded Russian-born woman, standing around my height, with green eyes and could pull out a gun to a person faster than anyone could blink and Agent Barton was a man of average height, light brown hair, blue eyes and was very skilled with a bow and arrow. Natasha was my other mentor; both she and Phil trained and prepared me to handle everything that went on with this job ever since Fury recruited me to become an agent. And thanks to them, I was able to keep everything about this agency a secret and that also meant keeping my mouth shut around Tony and Pepper in the beginning. I hadn't really worked alone with both Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton much—only very few jobs here and there—but I believed we did pretty great. We seemed great during the invasion.

"Hey, guys," I greeted quietly, glancing down at my boots and looked at them again.

"Don't tell me you're not happy to see us?" Clint questioned, causing Natasha to smirk slightly.

"Whether she's happy or not, she shouldn't complain about this," Director Fury said, giving me even more of a stern look than he normally does.

I remained silent and folded my armed to keep myself from saying anything.

"So, what do we do?" Natasha asked, looking to Fury.

"Firstly, I need you two to keep an eye on Agent Stark. I want you to make sure she doesn't do anything to possibly stray from this," he answered.

"Wait, I do not need babysitters!" My eyes widened, surprised that this was actually the reason Fury was bringing in these guys.

"It's only for certain things, Stark. It seems like you need as much help as you can get for this and Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton will help with that." His unpatched eye stared at me, making his point clear. "I know you could have handled this on your own but I feel like a little backup will help it go faster."

I stared at him, glancing over at the other agents for a brief moment. "And have they been debriefed about this?"

"Of course they have. They know about this except for the new information you just told me," he said, looking to them. "I trust you will learn about this when you all leave here?"

"Yes, sir," Clint answered, with Natasha nodding in agreement.

"Good. Now, you three are dismissed," Director Fury said. "Barton, if you or Agent Romanoff have any questions about this, talk to Agent Stark."

"Yes, sir," Clint nodded, glancing to Natasha and me.

"Agent Stark. Do you have anything to say about this?"

"Is this still need-to-know? Or should any other members of the Avengers know about this?" I was very curious about why Fury even decided to have Natasha and Clint on this job. If they could know about this, then the others should know about it as well.

"To everyone else, it's need-to-know. For the team, they can know if they ask." The idea of it seemed good to me. Now I was able to tell Tony about it if he ever asked. "Anything else?"

_Other than you assigning these two to be my babysitters and make sure I don't screw it up?_ "No, sir."

He stared at me one last time and then gave a curt nod, officially dismissing us.

I walked out of the conference room first and heard Natasha and Clint follow after me. When the door slid closed, we all began walking down the hallway and I asked, "When did Director Fury decide to bring you guys in on this?"

"After you didn't follow up with him," Clint answered, coming up to my left while Natasha stood on my right, both keeping at a good pace with me.

"Well, it's not easy to do with the life I live," I muttered.

"Even with the life you live, you should follow up with him," Natasha said, her voice calm and soft as always.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that." We continued walking until we reached the elevators. I hit the down button and waited for the doors to open.

"So, I'm guessing from asking that to Director Fury, Stark doesn't know anything about this?" Clint mused, gesturing for Natasha and I to enter the elevator first.

"Not yet he doesn't." I watched him hit the button for the lobby. "But if I know Tony, like I do know him, he's probably using JARVIS to figure this out."

"Gotta admit that Stark is one sneaky, clever bastard," he commented, causing me to give him a dirty look. "What? You know it's true."

"That's still my father you're talking about, Barton." I kept my glare intact as I folded my arms and turned my attention to watch the numbers count back.

"I was only saying—"

"All right, kids. That's enough," Natasha sighed, raising her hands to stop the both of us from even continuing. "We have more important things to do."

"Right." I heard the elevator sound off and walked out, the other two agents following after me. We were in the lobby of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters in Manhattan, a building I'm not all that used to being in since I was only used to being on the Helicarrier. I looked to them and asked, "How will this be done? You guys _do_ know about this, right?"

"Of course we do," Natasha answered. "Director Fury even said that he informed us all about this."

"Whether you liked it or not," Clint chimed in, continuing off of where Natasha had already begun. "Besides, kid, the only thing you should know about this is that we'll always be around and watching."

And, sadly, I knew how true that was. Whenever Clint or Natasha were on missions and had to keep an eye on someone, they were very good at their job. Whether they were assigned to watch or kill someone, they'd watch that person like a hawk (no pun intended to Clint).

* * *

**Two Days Later**

"_Miss Stark, I'm afraid that you did not set your alarm this morning and I believe you will be late for school._"

I grumbled, wondering why JARVIS would even be in my dreams and tell me that. I turned to where I was lying on my stomach and buried my face in my pillow. "My alarm is on and I'm waiting for it to go off."

"_Miss Stark, you don't really_—"

"JARVIS, it'll go off any minute," I groaned, keeping my eyes shut and didn't lift my head up. "Just give it some time."

"_But it's already 7:05 A.M._"

"What?!" I sat up so quickly that everything was blurrier than usual when I didn't wear my glasses. I picked up my phone and saw that JARVIS was right. "Crap!"

Slipping on my glasses, I got up, grabbed whatever clothes I could find and quickly dressed—nearly falling flat on my face in the process. I slipped a pair of converse on, ran to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. When I was finished; I placed in my contact lenses, smudged on some eyeliner and applied my mascara, almost poking my eye with the liner. I grabbed whatever I'd need for school today and slipped on a black hoodie I took from Tony a while ago. I looked around and didn't see any sign of Charlie.

"JARVIS, where's Charlie?"

"_Miss Potts has already taken the dog for the day, Miss Stark_."

"Okay," I sighed in relief and grew anxious. "When did she leave?"

"_She left with Mr. Hogan ten minutes ago_."

"Oh, no," I groaned and leaned against a wall. "What am I going to do? I'm going to be late. I have no idea how to take the subway and I doubt I could hail a cab by myself."

"_Perhaps your father could assist with that?_"

I thought about it and wondered what he could mean by that. There's no way that JARVIS would suggest that I'd ask Tony to drop me off; especially since he didn't have car…oh, wait a minute.

"Not a bad idea," I mused, biting my lip. "Let's see if he'll agree to it. And if he's up."

I walked out of my room and down the hall to his room, knocking softly on his door when I reached it. I knocked again, still not hearing anything and then decided to carefully open the door. When I looked inside, I didn't see any sign of him in there and decided to check downstairs. Once I reached downstairs, I looked around for him in the living room, kitchen and dining room, and still didn't see him.

Groaning, I called, "Dad! Are you up? I overslept and I need a lift to school!" When I didn't hear anything, I called to JARVIS. "Okay, JARVIS. Where is he?"

"_Your father is in the room you previously claimed as your own, Miss Stark._"

"Great…" I muttered and made my way over to it, where I was able to hear the muffled music that he'd always play. When I was close enough, I opened the door and saw him sitting near a table and looking over something on a tablet. "Dad?"

"Yeah?" he responded, glancing up a bit. "JARVIS, shut off my playlist for now. We'll try later to see if I'll get the soundproofing feature up and working."

"_I'll be sure to keep that in mind, sir,_" JARVIS replied, turning down the music in the room and I was actually able to hear the TV on the other side of the room.

"All right, what's up?" He turned his attention to me, shutting off the tablet and took a sip from his green protein smoothie.

"Let's see…I just woke up and I'm going to be late for school because Happy left with Pepper." I really didn't want to be late for school, it was kind of a pet peeve of mine, and I was running out of time. "I really need a lift to school."

"And how can I help with that? I don't have a car here," he shrugged and drank more of his smoothie. "I mean, I could pinch in for a cab but—"

"I need you to take me with your Iron Man suit!" I begged. "That is the only thing we have here and I'm completely okay with that. Please, Dad, I need your help to get me to school."

"Fine, I'll take you there with the suit," he sighed and I was utterly relieved. "I don't see why it's so important for you to be there. Most kids your age _hate_ being at school and would never pass up the opportunity to skip a day."

"I'm still new there. I can't just miss days of school."

He tried not to roll his eyes as he got up from his spot and downed the rest of his smoothie. When he was finished he said, "I still think it never hurts to have a day off but that's just me. Anyway, JARVIS, I need the Mark 10 ready for a quick trip to Midtown Science."

"_Sir, I'm not sure if the Mark 10 is fully ready to be in use._"

"Well, just skip the fuzzy interior. I need it to get going." He pulled open one of the drawers at the table and pulled out what appeared to be two metal wrist cuffs from the inside, and put them on. He looked my way and caught me staring. "What?"

"That's almost the same as how you had it for the Mark 7," I commented. "And what happened to Marks 8 and 9?" Walking out of the room, I made my way to the kitchen to take something to eat after he'd drop me off.

"I have those models made but saving them for some more modifications." I heard him say as he followed after me. "And what are you doing?" Tony asked, this time his voice was much closer to my location, no doubt hearing the noise I was making. "I thought you were in such a hurry to get to school?"

"I am but since I woke up late, I need to get a granola bar, a banana and a juice because I don't have time for a proper breakfast," I said, grabbing just those items and two fruit snacks to share with Peter later during lunch.

"Right…" he drolled, walking out of the kitchen and went to the living room where I heard him say. "You know, you really shouldn't eat just yet before I take you. Don't want you to puke all over the suit."

"That was the plan anyway, Tony," I muttered quietly, rolling my eyes as I put everything in my bag, along with napkins, and followed after him. When I entered the living room, I saw him stand near the door and fiddled with one of the wrist cuffs. He looked up, saw me and hit one more button.

"I'm ready." I really hoped this was the best idea, I'd been with him before and flew with him as he wore the suit—already having the knowledge that I'd be completely safe no matter what with him—but I couldn't help the worry that was building up inside. And that wasn't for the trip to the school; it was mostly for _after_, as in when we get there and a possible mob of people being there with Iron Man making an appearance.

"Let's go. I already signaled for the suit to get here and we only have a few minutes until it arrives," he said, opening the door for me to exit.

I nodded, thinking over something and ran over to one of the few boxes we still hadn't unpacked, and yanked it open.

"What are you doing now? The suit will be here any minute."

"I'm moving all my stuff from the bag I currently have into a backpack." I pulled it out of the box and stuffed everything in there—not caring how disorganized it was. When I moved everything around and zipped it up, slipping my arms through the straps right after. "Let's go!"

"Finally!" We both walked out of the living room to the hallway of the almost top floor, with Tony closing the door right after he was out, and we heard a faint beeping sound.

"What is that?" I asked, looking around to find the source of the sound. Looking back to him, I looked down to his hands and realized it was coming from the cuffs.

"That," he began, sighing. "Would be the alert feature I made to let me know how close the suit is."

"How close is it exactly?" The sound was faint at first, but paying closer attention I was able to hear it increase.

He lifted his wrist, looked it over and looked my way. "Five blocks away."

_Crap._ I didn't think about it anymore and just made a run for it to the door that led up to the roof. I heard Tony call after me and followed the same direction I went. We ran up the two flights of stairs until we reached the door. I opened it and ran out, seeing the sun slowly peeking over the other buildings in the city. I looked around, trying to find the direction of where the Stark Tower would be and saw something that appeared to be a red and gold gas tank fly over here. Turning back to where Tony was, I was going to let him know about it until the object flew right past me and opened up—expanding to be the Iron Man armor. I moved my hair out of my face and the armor latch onto Tony's body, covering every inch of him in red and gold.

It had been a while since the last time I saw Tony don the Iron Man suit. I knew for a while he'd been busy trying to create a few suits since he resigned from his position as CEO of Stark Industries, but I had no idea how much time he had on his hands. The suit was pretty much the same as the Mark 7 except this one had the triangle shape where the arch reactor is on Tony's chest as opposed to the circle—seemed like Tony liked to switch between the two. As I stared up at my father, now in the armor, I was starting to get the feeling that this might have been a bad idea.

"I know that look, don't give me that look, Alison," he said, shaking his head. "You suggested this in the first place."

"I know I did," I groaned and sighed. "Well, I guess it's better that I get there with you like this than as a drunken mess."

"If I ever showed up to your school drunk, both the media and Pepper will be on my ass about it."

"Pepper'll be worse than the media," I commented, walking over to him.

"Don't I know it," he muttered. "Come on, short-stuff. I gotta take you now."

"I'm not _that_ short." I stuck my tongue out at him defiantly, he knew poking fun at my height was always a something I disliked the most.

When I reached him, I tightened the straps to my backpack, tied the ends around my upper abdomen and wrapped my arms securely around my father's neck. The light from his chest glowed softly, and it was almost soothing to have. I still could hear a little voice in the back of my head telling me that this wasn't the best idea of getting to school but I had no other options. It was either this or stay home with Tony all day. "Don't let me fall, Dad."

"You'll be fine," he reassured me, lifting the faceplate up so I could see his face and brought it back down. "JARVIS, how much time do we have?"

"_You have twelve minutes until the first bell rings at 7:50 A.M., sir_." I heard JARVIS say from inside Tony's helmet.

"We'll make it in six."

Before I could even say anything else, Tony already shot up into the air and began making his way to the school. I hung on tighter, tightening my grip around his neck and wrapped my legs around the metallic torso as best as I could, and was glad that he was wearing the armor for fear of choking him. I clenched my eyes shut and hoped that I wouldn't lose my grip on him. At least with this "flying through New York" experience I wasn't swung around with someone with spider-like powers. In an attempt to keep my mind from what was happening, I thought back to my meeting a few days ago. Clint and Natasha were being a part of this job as my babysitters and I actually believed that I could have done all of this myself. Why the heck would Fury do this? Because I was a little late with letting him know that I had spoken with Spider-Man? When Phil was still alive, he'd usually wait a while until letting Director Fury know what happened on a mission and Fury never dropped any sitters on him. It didn't seem fair to have them "keep an eye" on me while I was working. Luckily, I had school most of the time and I wouldn't have to worry about them dropping in whenever they'd feel like it. _Thank you, school._

"How much time we got, JARVIS?"

"_At the speed you're going, sir, you should be at the high school in no less than two minutes._"

"Not bad timing," he said, and started to pick up the pace.

Tony continued to fly through the city, flying by one of the handful of billboards that were promoting the local newspaper/news program the Daily Bugle, and from down on the ground I was able to hear some taxicabs honking. It kind of made me wonder if they were honking at each other or other people like I'd normally hear them or were they just doing that because Iron Man was flying around the city? Hearing what sounded like faint cheering, no doubt for Iron Man, I carefully opened my eyes and saw Tony focused on the flight—which surprised me. He maneuvered us between and around the buildings as carefully, but quickly as possible and I was relieved that he wasn't acting cocky about it at all. _Last thing I need is another over confident superhero taking me somewhere through New York._

After I counted off a minute, I asked, "Are we there yet?"

"Now we are," he said, starting to slow down and was preparing to land on the school grounds.

Once we landed, with Tony firmly planted on the ground, I let go of him and placed my feet on the soft grass. I smiled and started combing my fingers through my hair to smooth it down. "Thanks for the lift, Dad."

"Yeah, well, the next time you forget to set your alarm, make sure to have JARVIS set up a second one for you," he said, his voice trying to sound stern and fatherly but sighed when he saw me biting my lip. "And…you're welcome."

Letting go of my lip, I smiled again and was about to say bye to him until I heard a voice call out to me.

"Alison!"

I tensed and felt my heart stop beating. _No!_ Slowly turning around, I saw Peter make his way over to where we were and I was really not hoping that he'd ever meet Tony this way. As soon as Tony finds out that this was Peter Parker, the only friend I had at school, who was also a _boy_, he'll be in full on protective father mode and possibly threaten Peter with that armor. _Where's Pepper when you need her?_

I gave him a weak smile and wave, really nervous about this.

"Who is that?" Tony asked, looking over the same direction I was.

"Umm…" I trailed off, biting my lip and thought it over. Should I really let this happen? I looked around, seeing that some of the students that were still outside were looking our way and knew that we would start drawing a crowd. I looked back to him and saw that he lifted the faceplate up. "Uh, well…"

"Alison! Hey, I was wondering when you'd get here. I didn't see you at the lockers and was about to text you…" he trailed off and looked over to where Tony was, getting nervous. He let out a weak laugh and looked back at me.

"Right. Ugh…" I cleared my throat and shifted uncomfortably. "Um, Peter, this is my father, Tony Stark. And, Dad, this is Peter Parker. He's my friend."

"I-it's nice to meet you, sir. Um, Mr. Stark," Peter stuttered, smiling nervously and held out his hand to Tony.

Tony stared at him, brow raised and glance down at Peter's hand. He took Peter's hand in his metallic one, giving a small shake and let go. I let out a small sigh of relief, pleased that Tony was careful with his armor around Peter and looked my way. "So, this is the Parker kid you say is a good friend to you?"

"Yes," I nodded, standing up straighter and stared directly into his eyes. "Peter is a very good friend to me. He really helps out a lot."

He hummed, looking back to Peter and asked, "How do you treat my daughter, kid?"

"R-respectively, sir," Peter responded, clearing his throat. "I look out for her like any friend would."

I scanned the area around us and saw that we indeed attracted the attention of the other students; some of them were busy texting or gushing with other kids and others were taking pictures of what was going on. And frankly, I wasn't too pleased with this. As much as I would have liked some privacy today, I knew that I would not get any of it as soon as Tony was gone.

"Since this _is_ kind of a science based school, how smart are you?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm one of the smartest in the school."

Tony stared at him some more, taking in the clothes, skateboard and what I now saw was another bruise on his face. _Where the heck does he go to keep getting hurt like that?_ "Are you the kind of kid that likes to get into trouble? You know, property damage to schools, tagging on walls, stealing from liquor stores? Things in that nature."

"Dad," I warned, pleading to him with my eyes that he'd stop this.

"No, sir," Peter shook his head, not looking away from Tony. He didn't seem to back down at all because of what Tony was asking. I was both impressed and nervous at the same time.

"I really hope you aren't lying to me, kid. Don't really like it when people keep secrets from me," Tony said, staring down at Peter to intimidate him. And I thought just wearing the Iron Man suit was intimidating enough.

"Dad, Peter's telling you the truth," I insisted, getting in between the two of them and stared up at my father. "He's a really good guy and we really need to head inside so we can go to our first period class. Can you please go now?"

"Sir? Is there a problem here…no way! It's Iron Man!" I heard someone say and I turned around, seeing that it was the school's security guards. It took a lot in me to not roll my eyes.

"No. Everything's fine," he said to the one that called out to him and looked my way. "Just dropping my kid off. Although, it would be great if you guys did me the favor of keeping an eye on her for me while I'm not here."

My eyes narrowed, furious that he actually even suggested that at all. They answered back to him with so much enthusiasm that it didn't even cause him to look away from my glare. Tony was definitely lucky that Pepper wasn't here; however, once she hears about this, he'll be in _so_ much trouble with her.

"Have a good day, honey," he smirked; his faceplate covered his face again and flew up, beginning his departure from here.

I still glared up at the sky. "You won't be smirking once Pepper finds out." I looked back to Peter and apologized, "I am so sorry you had to deal with that. I did say my dad was pretty protective."

"You weren't kidding." He was staring up in the same direction I was looking, shaking his head and looked back to me. "Maybe next time I'll just wait inside the school before I even think about meeting up with you."

"Well, I would have texted you but I was busy flying around with my dad." I untied the straps of my backpack around my abdomen and looked around, seeing everyone that was still looking at us.

"That was so awesome!"

"I can't believe I actually saw Iron Man here!"

"Having the rich kid here is the best thing that's ever happened!"

A couple of them started making their way to me and I gulped. If there was one thing I feared, it was getting mobbed by a bunch of people with so many questions. Crooks with guns, I'm fine with; aliens from another planet that wants to destroy New York, no problem; people who want to know about my personal life…hell no. Peter pulled me behind him, shielding me from the mob of teenagers that were surrounding us. They were asking so many questions that they all overlapped the other. "Do you know Captain America?" "Is the big green guy an alien?" "Can I have Thor's number?" "Forget Thor. Is Captain America single?"

"Okay, kids. That's enough!" One of the larger security guards said, coming to stand in front of Peter and me. "I want all you inside the building before the new principal gets out here and sees what's happened. The bell rang and you all need to head to your first class. Now, come one! Let's go!"

The other five that were there with him began ushering the students that were trying to mob us into the school, leaving myself with Peter and the security guard that was still there with us. I was already feeling a headache coming on, my stomach was uneasy and I was glad I had nothing in it so that it won't even come back up. The security guard, who's name we found out was Joe, was looking back to us, asking if we were all right, needed help getting into the school without being ambushed again and it was much better than what I was being asked by the other students. Peter answered for the both of us, also making sure I was fine and gave his thanks to the security guard.

"Are you guys sure you're okay being on your own?" he asked, looking between Peter and myself.

"Yeah. We're fine," I nodded. "Thank you for helping us back there."

"Yeah, man. We greatly appreciate it," Peter added, agreeing with me.

"You're welcome. It's not every day you get to help out the kid of a superhero," he smiled, appearing very proud of himself for helping us.

As much as I would have liked to inform him that the way Tony had put it wasn't great, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't bring myself to crush this man's moment and just kept quiet, smiling appreciatively and thanked him again. Peter and I walked into the school together and made our way to our first period class. Security seemed to have been everywhere we went, telling everyone to just get to class and not bother us. I was very grateful that they did this but I still couldn't help the feeling I was getting about being in a classroom with thirty-something students trying to ask me questions about the Avengers at whatever chance they could get.

Before we made it to class, Peter handed me my English textbook. "I got it for you in case you did show up later than the tardy bell."

"Wait, how did you…oh, never mind. I forgot I stuffed it in your locker Friday," I shook my head, laughing embarrassingly and entered the class first. "God, I really don't know where my head is right now. I guess that happens when you don't get a chance to eat in the morning."

"You haven't eaten?" Peter repeated and I shook my head. He looked around and then to me. "Ms. Ritter isn't here yet. Maybe you could get something from one of the vending machines before she shows up."

I looked to the desk in front of the class and saw that it was in fact empty. _Seems like my luck is starting to change_. "I actually brought something with me from home to eat. I'll get started on it before she gets here."

Making my way to my desk in the back of the class, going as quickly as I could and reached my desk. Once I sat down, I opened up my backpack and pulled out the granola bar and apple juice. I ripped off the plastic wrapper and took a bite, feeling a bit better. I guess I had no idea how hungry I was until I had that first bite; it really didn't take that long for me to eat all of it and I was already moving onto the banana I had in my backpack.

As I was about to finish it, I heard someone call out to me. "Hey, Alison. Alison?"

I looked ahead a couple rows in front of me and saw a boy with sandy brown hair. I still wasn't sure what his name was just yet, it was still hard trying to remember the new names of my classmates and I was already drawing up a blank. I finished chewing, swallowed and said, "Yes, umm…?"

"Tyler. We have also calculus together with Mr. Cooper?"

I started thinking back and remembered that he was indeed in that class with me. I really have to get better at remembering names. "Right! Sorry. It's still early and my brain is fried. What's up?"

"I just wanted to say that was really cool how your dad dropped you off here this morning." He gave me a thumbs up and I couldn't help but cringe on the inside.

I gave him a tight smile. "Yeah. Yeah, that was pretty cool."

"Did he used to do that for you all the time back in LA?" I heard someone else ask and looked over to my left where a girl sitting in front of Peter with black hair and green eyes was turned around in her seat. "I'm Ashley, by the way."

"Uh, no," I shook my head, starting to feel uncomfortable again. "No, my dad never really dropped me off with the Iron Man suit before."

"I heard a rumor that he has one for everyone in the Avengers. Is it really true? No, wait. Do _you _have one, too?" A jock sitting in front of Ashley asked.

I was about to come up with an excuse for a lie until a boy sitting in the front of the classroom beat me to it. "Are you kidding me? If he had one for everybody in the group, they wouldn't be called the 'Avengers' anymore. They'd be called the 'Iron Avengers.'"

"Hey, that seems like a pretty sweet name for all of them," someone on the other side commented.

So many people began asking questions and talking all at once; it was too much and I couldn't really take it anymore. I got out from my seat, stood up on the chair and whistled to get all of their attention. "All right! That's it. No more questions! Look, everyone. I'm sorry if you want me to answer some questions for you guys but I don't really have much to say. I don't know anything about the Avengers, I've never actually met any of them and I really have no clue on what you guys are talking about. I'm not really open with Tony on everything and, let's be honest, if I were he wouldn't tell me _anything_. To me, everything about that seems like it's 'need-to-know' or 'if I tell you, I'd have to kill you' deal. Which I know seems harsh but that's how I feel." I hoped my lie would work; supposedly I was great when it came to being both persuasive and convincing but at this point I wasn't sure if that was even true.

So many pairs of eyes were looking at me, all ranging from different colors, and I felt even more nervous about even saying anything. Mentally cursing myself, I got down from the chair and didn't look away. "So, if anyone asks about the Avengers again, I'm afraid I can't help you," I apologized, picking up my bottle of juice and began drinking from it.

I heard clapping coming from the front of the class and I could only assume it was Ms. Ritter finally showing up. I picked up my banana peel and tossed it in the trash bin near where I was sitting, and continued to drink my juice.

"Well, I guess that young lady has certainly made her point across about being asked pointless questions," I heard a male voice say.

Looking up toward the front of the class, I saw a familiar face and nearly choked on my juice. Everyone in the classroom heard me and began to laugh as soon as they looked my way. I was coughing, gasping for some air and felt Peter gently pat my back to help me feel better. I searched my backpack for the napkins I stuffed inside, wiped my mouth to prevent the juice making my skin sticky and looked up at Agent Clint Barton dressed in khaki pants, white dress shirt with a sweater vest over it and tie—all completely different from what I'd normally see him wear for work. He looked like a teacher. _Like a teacher? Oh, no!_

"Hey, what happened to Ms. Ritter? She's not here today?" Tyler asked, squinting at Barton and looked confused.

"I'm afraid your usual teacher won't be here for the rest of the school year," he announced, placing a messenger bag on top of the desk and looked at us. "So, I'll be your substitute for the rest of the year."

The class was a mixture of murmured delightful comments and some sad ones. I was beginning to like Ms. Ritter but I seriously had nothing to say about Clint being here. It seemed like when he said that both him and Natasha would be close by was very true. I froze, thinking that over again, _we'll always be around watching…_ I really hoped that doesn't mean Natasha was here as well but where could she be and what did she choose to go undercover was the big question. Whatever she chose, I'm sure it was well thought out.

"Funny how we got a new principal and teacher all in the same day, huh?" Peter mused, looking my way. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," I said too quickly, staring at Clint and blinked, looking to him. "Wait, did you say new principal?"

"Yeah. Don't you remember what that security guard told us before we got in?" He squinted, giving me a puzzled look.

I thought back, trying to retrace the events from this morning and vaguely remembered something along those lines. "I guess. Huh. I really must have been mad with Tony to not really pay attention."

"That seems to bother you a lot, doesn't it?"

I sighed, "You have no idea." I went back to thinking about the new principal and had a theory. If Clint is our new English teacher, then that could only mean that Natasha is Midtown Science's new principal. There was no question about it but it seemed odd that she'd go for the job of keeping control of the students in this school and then smirked to myself. _I feel so bad for anyone who'd get sent to her office._

"Okay, guys! I need everybody's attention on me," Clint said, causing all of us to look ahead. "Good. My name is Mr. Barker." He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name on the board. "I'll be your new English teacher for the rest of the year."

"You don't look like an English teacher," one of the girls from the front of the class voiced.

"Oh, believe me. I'm sure you kids say that about every teacher you meet," he waved it off. "Same thing will happen once you're in college. Now, I don't have a lesson plan set up for you guys so I'm going to show a movie for the day until I figure out what your original teacher had in mind before."

"Sweet! Movie day!" I heard Flash Thompson cheer and high-fived the person sitting next to him.

"Don't get your hopes up too much." He was wheeling the television set over to the front of the class. "I brought a documentary about hawks."

A chorus of groans filled the room and I couldn't help the smirk on my face; only Clint Barton would pick a documentary about birds to annoy anyone—especially a room full of teenagers. I watched him fiddle around with the buttons on the DVD player and TV set, getting everything set to play the documentary. As I watched him, I heard my phone make the sound it makes for a text message and quickly took it out of my pocket to turn it on silent.

"No cellphones in class, please," Clint said, finishing up with the TV and DVD player and popped in the movie. "Okay, before I start the movie, I am going to take roll and make sure all you guys are here." He walked over to the desk, sat down in the chair and pulled a folder out of his bag. He took out the roll sheet for this class and called out, "Tyler Addams?"

"Here," Tyler answered and Clint marked the paper.

"Rachel Brooks?" The same girl that made her comment about Clint raised her hand and he marked her off as well. One by one, Clint called out the students that were currently present in the class and marked off each one. Being the only one that was able to notice this, I saw him look at each student for no more than fifteen seconds to make a mental note of him or her and then continued on to the next person. He continued until he reached a certain name. "Peter Parker?"

"Right here," Peter called, raising his hand slightly.

Clint looked at him, nodding and marked him off. He called off three more names and then reached _S_. "Alison Stark?"

"I'm here," I announced, looking at him and made eye contact with him.

"Ah, so you're the one who made that little speech," he nodded and marked off my name. "Well, it's good to meet you, Miss Stark."

"You, too, Mr. Barker." _Even though I really think you being here might cause some problems._

He continued down the list and then finished up. "All right, I'll start the movie now." He put down the roll sheet, picked up the control for the player and the movie began to play.

I looked to my left and saw Peter doodle something on a sheet of paper in his notebook. Curious, I whispered, "What are you drawing?"

"Just random drawings," he whispered back, shrugging and closed the notebook. "Nothing too exciting."

"Is it okay if I look?"

Peter pursed his lips and shook his head. "Not now. Maybe a little later."

That surprised me, normally whenever Peter and I were doing anything random in class we'd show each other what it was. "Oh, all right, then."

"Trust me, I don't think you'd want to see a picture of…your dad as Iron Man fighting a giant spider," he chuckled quietly, trying to make a joke of it.

"I would actually," I muttered and faintly heard the sound of heels clinking against the linoleum down the hallway outside. I glanced to the door and saw a petite blonde woman enter, and I nearly did a double take as soon as I saw her.

"Hi, I'm so sorry to bother you," she said, catching Clint's attention. "But I need to give this to you."

Clint sat up straighter in his chair and motioned her in. As she entered, I heard and saw all the boys in the classroom stare and whisper about Natasha with her blonde wig, black high-heels, black pencil skirt, white blouse and what appeared to be a white doctor's lab coat. She walked over to Clint's desk, handed him a slip a paper and looked it over. "Alison Stark."

I tensed, looking over to Clint and Natasha, and tried not to bite my lip. "Yes?"

"Looks like the new principal would like to see you," he said, lifting up the slip to show me.

I heard everyone else in the classroom murmur, whispering possibilities as to why I was being sent to the principal's office and the majority of it was about Tony being here with his Iron Man suit. Sighing, I got up from my seat and made my way over to them, stuffing my hands into the pockets of Tony's hoodie. When I reached them, Clint handed me the paper and I looked it over to see if I could find a name of the new principal since it obviously wasn't Natasha.

"Why don't you follow Miss…" he trailed off, looking toward Natasha for clarification of her new alias.

"Russo. I'm the school's new nurse," she said, giving me a soft smile.

"You're the nurse?!" Flash gasped, and then whistled. "I'm really looking forward to getting injured during basketball now."

"Thompson, enough," Clint warned, giving Flash a look.

I rolled my eyes at Flash and smiled back. "Nice you meet you. So I just go there now?"

"Yes, and he said that I should escort you back my myself."

"Oh." Was all I could say, finding it strange that he'd suggest that. I haven't even met with the man and I was already starting to question some of his methods. "Do I take my stuff?"

"I don't think you'd need to but you never how long these things take," Natasha shrugged. "I'll just wait outside for you while you get your things." She walked passed the TV again, every boy watching her instead of the movie and walked out the door.

"Well, I don't know what you did but good luck, kid," Clint said, signaling me to get going.

"Thanks," I muttered, walking back to my desk and picked up my backpack. I turned to Peter, quietly asking if he could put my textbook back in his locker for me and that I'd pick it up later.

"Sure, that's fine," he nodded, sitting back in his seat. "Hopefully he won't be too hard on you."

"Let's hope not. I'll see you in calculus," I waved and walked out the second door of the classroom to be out in the hallway with Natasha.

"Follow me." She began walking and I quickly followed after her.

We walked down the hall quietly, making sure not to disturb the other classes and I couldn't stop from quietly asking, "Why are you guys here?"

"You'll find out soon enough when we reach the principal's office," Natasha said, and made sure that we wouldn't discuss anymore while we were in the halls.

When we reached the main office, walking through every detour of the school, she opened the door and I entered, with her following right after. I looked around, seeing everyone in the office at work and saw Natasha make her way to the door of the new principal's office, and opened it for me to enter. I stared at it, not sure what to make of this and decided that I should just get it over with before it becomes worse. I walked up to the door, entered and saw Clint in the office as well—leaning against the desk of the new principal who had his chair faced the other way.

After Natasha entered and closed the door, I let out a humorless laugh. "Okay, don't tell me. Nick Fury is the one sitting in that chair for dramatic effect? Real good, guys. Although I don't think everyone will warm up to the eye patch like they do on the Helicarrier, Nick."

"Alison, Alison, Alison…" Clint chastised gently, shaking his head. "You won't even believe how wrong you are."

"What are you talking about?" I arched a brow. "Who else besides us and Nick Fury knows about you guys being a part of this?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised, Alison," a voice said from behind the chair.

I tensed, my eyes widened and stared at the chair. _That voice…_I thought, trying to gather my bearings. _It can't be._ "What's going on?"

The chair moved, turning all the way around and I saw him—completely back from the dead. Phil Coulson. "It's good to see you again, Agent Stark."

My knees buckled, causing me to almost fall to the floor before Clint caught me and helped steady me. "That's…this is…how…?" I didn't know what to make of this. Phil was dead. _Dead._ Loki killed him by stabbing him through the back and Fury told us all about it. We all fought Loki and his army because of Phil's death—we fought for him.

"I know it's hard to explain, kid. But…we also had the same reaction you did after finding out about him," Clint said, helping me sit in one of the chairs in the office. "Nat and I didn't find out about this until yesterday."

"Yesterday?" I repeated, staring from Clint to Natasha, then Phil, and back to Clint. "Who else knows about this, other than you two and Director Fury?"

"Including you?" Phil questioned, getting up from seat. "No one else. It's the four of you."

I stared at him, still being crushed by a wave of emotions that it was so difficult to pinpoint which one was which. I knew I was angry, happy, shocked; I wanted to cry, I wanted to yell, I wanted to hit something…there was just so much going on that I had no clue as to what emotion to stick with. There were so many emotions hitting me all at once that it was just impossible to understand which one was the most accurate. Shaking my head, I looked at my feet and asked, "Why would he lie to us?"

"I told him to do it," he answered, causing my head to snap back up to him.

"Why would you have him say something like that?" I glared, definitely feeling anger win this bout of my internal turmoil with my emotions. "We all were very upset believing that you were murdered by Loki."

"You all needed some form of push in order to band together to stop Loki," he explained, standing calmly in front of me with his hands folded in front of him. "The rate the seven of you were going, it would have been too late to stop Loki and definitely would have had a difficult time stopping him in New York."

"The seven of us? Phil, I was not a choice to be a part of the Avengers," I shook my head, thinking back to when I had first heard Fury and Phil talk about an idea to bring the others together in what was called the Avengers Initiative, and I knew I definitely wasn't picked for it because at the time I was still training. There was no way Fury wanted someone who wasn't fully experienced part of this.

"Believe me, Alison. You may not know it, or even believe in it, but I'm sure the others see you as a founding member of the team and that is definitely a great achievement to have," Phil reassured, making my anger melt away and I felt upset again.

I shook my head, sighing, "Well, it's a bit late now. The Avengers have disbanded and only agreed to help out again if there was a huge threat coming to Earth."

"To Director Fury, it never hurts to add a new recruit in case something were to happened."

I let that all sink in, suddenly feeling very tired from all of this and asked the question that was bugging me ever since I saw Clint in class. "What made you guys even think about being here?"

"Agent Coulson thought it was a good idea to do it," Clint said, walking over with Natasha to stand on either side of Phil. "Plus, it'll keep your father from finding out about Coulson being alive."

"Unless Stark uses some of his technology again like he did on the Helicarrier," Natasha commented, pushing aside some of the blonde hair out of her face.

I scoffed, "Like Tony would ever hack into the school's database and…" I trailed off, thinking it over and groaned. "No, scratch that. That _does_ seem like something he'd do."

"Which is why we're hoping that doesn't happen at all." Phil looked at each of us. "No one can know about me being alive until I make that announcement myself. In the mean time, I'm just a simple high school principal and will be tough but fair to the students."

"Got it." I felt my phone vibrate again and took it out of my pocket, seeing that it was a text message from Tony.

"No cellphones in my office, Miss Stark," Phil warned, his voice turned to that stern voice I'd hear Fury give Tony or me half of the time.

"You're joking?" I asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Phil, you are not a real principal. You're a field agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and also was an official liaison for most of the members of this little group."

"Not when I'm undercover, I'm not," he shook his head. "Now, put away that cellphone or I'm going to have to confiscate it."

"Can't I see what Tony wants?"

"Miss Stark," he warned.

I sighed; definitely feeling more like a teenager would with an authoritative figure at school rather than a coworker. "Fine!" I slipped my cellphone back into my hip pocket and sat quietly. "Please tell me that this meeting is almost over and that you are not going to talk to me about Tony having to drop me off with his Iron Man suit?"

"Oh, I'm afraid I do have to speak with you about that, Alison," Phil, or I should say _Principal_ Coulson, said and walked back to his seat. As he sat down, he turned his attention back to Clint and Natasha. "You two are dismissed. I'd like to have a word with Miss Stark alone, please."

"You got it, Principal Coulson," Clint said, making his way to the door with Natasha and turned to me. "Good luck, kid."

"Thanks." I made sure to put enough sarcasm into that one word.

Once I turned my attention back to Phil, he leaned over his desk slightly with his hands clasped before him on the desk. "Now, let's talk about what'll happen if this ever happens again."

* * *

**Author's Note: Okay, I just need to get one thing straight: I did not bring back Phil Coulson because of the new promos for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. I actually had that idea in mind for a long time because it was pretty suspicious that Nick Fury did everything off camera and that can lead to so much speculation of a character's death. Not to mention Joss Whedon is known to kill off some of his characters and bring them back later. But if you all think it's great that Agent Coulson is back, you're welcome. And for anyone who has seen the _Ultimate Spider-Man_ cartoon, yes I did get some ideas from it—mainly the idea of Coulson being the principal but I liked it and have an idea for all this. Just keep hanging in there. **

**On a lighter note, has anyone seen the new _Iron Man 3_ movie? I know it's pretty much a month old but if you have, that thing was awesome! Of course I didn't really like some ideas that were in it—especially since I'm a huge comic book nerd (and I mean that with love)—but it was great to see. And I'm totally looking forward to everything that'll happen in Phase 2! ^_^**

**Now back to the chapter, again. I really hope you liked that I brought in these characters and how their roles will be played out in this, I got huge plans for them, and I cannot wait to finish up the next chapter and have you guys check it out! Good news to share now, I'm finished with my spring semester and I can update more until my summer class begins later. But luckily, it's only one class and I'll still update a bit more than I had before :) Thanks again for all the awesome reviews, it's almost at 50 now! You guys are amazing and please make sure to favor, follow and review! :D**


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